In a patent ruling made by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court last week, the defendant was ordered to pay a total of CNY50 million in damages to the patent rights owner, the highest amount since the court was founded in November 2014. Both the plaintiff, Watchdata Co, and the defendant, Hengbao Co, are manufacturers of USB keys used as electronic authentication devices in financial services. Watchdata filed the lawsuit in February 2015. It said that Hengbao had developed and sold many USB key products to banks across China, using its patent called “physic identification method and electronic device” without its authorization. It requested the defendant cease its infringement and asked for compensation of CNY49 million, plus CNY1 million in litigation costs. Hengbao claimed that the questioned products and physic identification method in online bank transfers were not under the protection of Watchdata’s patent. But the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. The judicial committee decided to calculate the compensation by multiplying the sales volume of the infringing products by the reasonable profit of each patented product. Investigations found the specific sales volume of the infringing products to 12 banks nationwide, which led to actual damages of about CNY48.1 million. The court also confirmed that Hengbao had provided infringing products to another three banks, but was unable to acquire sales data from the banks or the company, the China Daily reports.

China’s economy warmed in November as industrial output grew and investment stabilized, the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) said. Industrial output rose 6.2% annually in November, up from 6.1% in October. The growth was attributed to a strong performance in the electronic equipment and automobile sectors, Mao Shengyong, the Bureau’s Spokesperson, said at a briefing. Private investment grew 3.1% in the first 11 months, a third straight month of growth. It hit a record low of 2.1% in the first eight months of the year. Private investment accounts for 61.5% of overall investment in China. “November activity data surprised the market on the upside, as the economic recovery gained momentum,” said Julia Wang, Economist at HSBC. “Manufacturing investment grew at the fastest pace in a year with a broad-based recovery in heavy industries, machinery and auto, helping to sustain the recovery in private business investment.” She said the government should continue fiscal support to sustain the growth momentum as the economy has just emerged from deflation, and the recovery is still quite uneven. Retail sales of consumer goods jumped 10.8% year-on-year in November to CNY3.1 trillion. China’s fixed-asset investment (FAI) rose 8.3% year-on-year to CNY53.85 trillion in the first 11 months of 2016. Infrastructure investment jumped 18.9% in the first 11 months, while FAI in high-tech industries surged 15.9%. FAI by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) climbed 20.2% year-on-year during the period. Private sector FAI, which accounts for more than 60% of the total FAI, expanded 3.1% in the first 11 months. Growth in property development investment fell slightly to 6.5% after rapid housing price rises in major cities forced the government to impose restrictions on home purchases.

About 80,000 industrial robots are expected to be sold in China this year, up about 20%, according to forecasts from the GG Robotics Research Institute and the China Artificial Intelligence Robot Industry Alliance. Growth in the industrial robot market slowed in 2015, with sales up 16% year-on-year to about 66,000 units, compared with the more rapid year-on-year growth of 55% in 2014 to 57,000 units. In the first 10 months of this year, a total of 56,604 industrial robots were sold in China, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). There were several impediments to robot industry growth this year that prevented it from reaching the levels of 2014, said Zhang Xiaofei, Founder of the GG Robotics Research Institute. “The manufacturing market is tough in China this year following an economic slowdown, while costs for those domestic industrial robot makers remain high because of the lack of development of technology breakthroughs in core components for mass production. Government incentives such as subsidies are not as attractive and generous as 2014 and earlier last year,” he said. Investment in robotics is becoming cautious, especially by venture capital investors, he added. The automotive and 3C (computer, communication and consumer electronic) industry were the two biggest customers for industrial robots, accounting for about 60% of sales, Zhang said. There are signs that China’s “robotic fever” is cooling down, the South China Morning Post reports. Mainland China is already the world’s largest market for industrial robots, accounting for a quarter of global sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The country’s annual sales target for industrial robots in the manufacturing sector is 150,000 by 2020.

The yearly three-day Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing last week to determine next year’s key economic policies. Members of the Communist Party’s Politburo, central government department heads, provincial and municipal chiefs and executives of major state-owned firms attended the conference. The five major tasks for next year were cutting excess capacity, destocking, deleveraging, cost cuts, and advancing underdeveloped sectors, Xinhua reported. “The principle is making progress while keeping stability, which will be particularly important in guiding next year’s economic work,” it said. China vowed to stabilize the exchange rate and curb real estate bubbles next year among measures to sustain economic growth while forging ahead with structural reform. Policy-makers will prioritize stability in 2017 while striving for progress in key areas that include reforms and economic growth, according to a statement issued after top leaders wrapped up the conference. China’s monetary policy will be kept “prudent and neutral,” with flexibility to ensure stable liquidity, and the fiscal policy will be more proactive and effective in supporting supply-side reforms, lowering business costs and ensuring public well-being, the statement said. China’s economic conditions have been stabilized and are improving, but conflicts between cutting overcapacity and upgrading demand remain, and the economy still lacks momentum, it said. Major economic goals are to keep the exchange rate of the yuan basically stable at a reasonable level, and promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, the China Daily reports.

China’s State Grid, the world’s biggest utility, signed the purchase of a minority stake in Greece’s power grid operator ADMIE, China’s second big investment in the debt-laden country in a matter of months. ADMIE was fully owned by Greece’s state-owned power utility Public Power Corp (PPC). Shareholders of PPC cleared last month the €320 million sale of a 24% stake in the operator to State Grid. The deal comes after Greece sold earlier this year a 51% stake in its biggest port, Piraeus, to China’s biggest shipping company Cosco Shipping for €280.5 million. In a signing ceremony in Athens, State Grid said Greece was a market of strategic importance and its investment in ADMIE, Greece’s independent power transmission operator, would boost the company’s prospects. State Grid is also in talks to buy a Brazilian power distributor. “We made huge efforts, we overcame many difficulties to come to this historic moment,” said State Grid’s CEO Kou Wei. The Greek company is planning to expand its network to the Greek islands and outside Greece. ADMIE’s sale is part of Greece’s international bailout program.