Today, when walking on the city landscape river embankments, people often feel refreshed because of the green grass on it. But for Hu Kaiyan, the president of Wuhan Kelan Jinli Ltd. (hereafter as to Kelan Jinli), this green grass is not the refreshed view but also the emotionalsustenance on patent. And the story dates from the patent of "Environmental compatibility prefabricated blocks" she encountered 14 years ago.

In 2001, in an exhibition hosted at Shanghai, under the impact by her father who were engaged in water conservancy Hu Kaiyan got interested in a patent by a South Korean inventor, and she decided to introduce this technology and put into actual production, and Kelanjinli, the China- ROK joint venture, was established. Compared with conventional concrete revetment, this eco- friendly plant raw block could decrease the river flowing rate and resist embankment erosion of both sides, coupled with the emerging "grass clumps” a few months after the construction just like the natural landscape, therefore, the patented product became popular in the market and was widely used in Jiujiang, Wuhan, Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Chongqing and other places.

However, patent infringement followed the increasingly use of this technique. Some construction units used the company's patents without the Kelanjinli's permission. Because of Kelanjinli’s rigorous and meticulous work in the patent application and protection, the company was hopefully to won the patent litigation or ended itfor settlement. Hu Kaiyan said,"The win in litigation is not our intention, we hope the infringers realize the importance of protecting patent, and we also hope they can develop their owninventions, and intellectual property departments better strengthen law enforcement, increase tort compensation, to create healthy competition environment." 

(by Sun Yiheng)

(Source：China IP News）