Chinese courts have been required to strengthen the intellectual property protection of litigants, regardless of their origin, by accurately applying international rules and conventions to better serve the nation’s high-level opening-up. The requirement was made by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) early in December after the central leadership held a group session on advancing construction of the legal system related to foreign affairs. SPC President Zhang Jun called for courts across the country to continue improving judicial credibility by upholding equal protection to litigants from China and overseas, with higher attention paid to efficiently handling foreign-related disputes regarding intellectual property (IP) and the environment. He ordered Chinese courts to focus more on information in IP case hearings, and guiding Chinese entities going global to abide by foreign laws. In the group study session last month, the central leadership emphasized that greater strides in opening-up must be coupled with the construction of legal systems related to foreign affairs. It also stressed that the rule of law is the best business environment, adding that it is necessary to strengthen IP protection and guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-invested businesses.
Zhang said Chinese courts should further improve the quality of dealing with foreign-related cases to meet the demands of the central leadership, and ensure that Chinese modernization is better protected through trials. An annual IP report issued by the top court in March stated that fair justice and convenient legal services have resulted in more overseas litigants deciding to resolve their international IP disputes in China. The SPC has also increased international exchanges, including compiling a guideline on patent case management with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and encouraging judges to attend international IP-related forums and seminars. To efficiently resolve a rising number of IP disputes and increase studies of major issues in this regard, four courts have been set up in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong and Hainan provinces to specialize in handling cases. A number of IP tribunals have also been established. Statistics from the Beijing Intellectual Property Court show that it heard more than 20,000 foreign-related cases from 2014, when it was established, to November 2022. The litigants involved in these cases came from more than 100 countries and regions. Liu Bin, a Beijing lawyer who specializes in IP cases, welcomed the increasingly stronger determination and efforts made by Chinese courts to protect IP rights, adding that this is conducive to fostering a market-oriented, law-based and world-class international business environment, the China Daily reports.
The National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) announced that China overtook the United States for the first time last year to top the list of countries with the highest number of science and technology clusters among the top 100. While China has 24 such clusters, the U.S. follows with 21 and Germany ranks third with nine. It also showed that the highest climbers in the ranking last year were three clusters in China – Zhenjiang, which went up 15 spots, and Hefei and Wuxi, both of which climbed 13 spots. In addition, two Chinese technology enterprises – Shanghai Westwell Technology and Xian KissFuture Network Technology – were among the seven winners of the 2023 WIPO Global Awards for their creative use of IP in logistics and the cultural sector. NIPA authorized 921,000 invention patents in 2023, with registration of 4.38 million trademarks. IP regulators at all levels solved 14,000 patent disputes, up 50.1% year-on-year, and helped Chinese enterprises protect their IP rights overseas in more than 1,300 cases, the China Daily reports.
