Cases
Mr. Bean Intellectual Property Dispute Represented by Hylands Settled by WIPO Arbitration Center Shanghai
Tiger Aspect Productions Limited is entitled to the copyrights and other intellectual property rights and interests related to the famous brand/image Mr. Bean. Due to disputes over the performance period of the license contract as well as contractual obligations upon its expiration, Tiger Aspect sued two companies in Shanghai to a court in Shanghai. In the process of the trial, the Shanghai Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO ACM) arranged mediation and the parties finally reached a settlement. Recently, the settlement agreement has become effective. It has been reported that this case is the first case that has been successfully mediated by the WIPO Mediation Center in Shanghai in the true sense.
Tiger Aspect is a subsidiary of Banijay, a French multinational television content production and distribution group, and is one of the most internationally recognized successful and prolific independent television production companies in the UK. With productions covering genres such as children's program/animation, comedy, drama and entertainment, Tiger Aspect has produced a range of critically acclaimed and award-winning programs. Mr. Bean involved in the case is a comedic image produced by Tiger Aspect, which has become a popular image for households around the world.
The Shanghai Center of WIPO Arbitration is an overseas arbitration institution registered by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and approved by the Ministry of Justice, and is the first arbitration institution of an international organization to be established in China.
As the litigation agent of Tiger Aspect, Hylands has provided legal services for the overall process of this case, including but not limited to investigation and deposition, evidence preservation, litigation plan analysis and selection, filing, jurisdictional objection, substantive trial and mediation. Furthermore, the project team has presented multiple briefings and explanations to the customer on the laws regulations and judicial practices related to intellectual property rights and civil litigation in China.
The lawyers appearing in the case were Yuzi ZHU and Qian SHAO. The project team also included Wenjie JIANG (lawyer) and Xuan WANG (assistant lawyer).