China Supreme People’s Court IP Protection Symposium
Published 5 July 2024
Matthew Murphy
On 27 June 2024, China’s Supreme People's Court held a special symposium on "Strengthening Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights for Scientific and Technological Innovation to Promote the Development of New Quality Productivity".
It was announced by the Court that:
- From January 2019 to June 2024, the court accepted a total of 20,338 cases and concluded 17,638 cases - In the past five years, cases involving foreign parties accounted for about 10% of the total number of new cases received by the court, with an average annual growth of 28.6%- Foreign-related cases accounted for as high as one-third of invention patent authorization and confirmation cases, and the number of cases in which all parties are foreign entities has continued to increase.
First Deputy Chief Judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court, He Zhonglin, emphasized that “continuing to implement equal protection and promoting open cooperation and mutual benefit in science and technology” are the principles and goals of the Court in hearing foreign-related cases. He also discussed the complex nature of shared international rights, licensing arrangements and coexistence across borders. A number of examples of IP cases involving cross-border issues were discussed.
Tao Kaiyuan, Vice President of the Court, spoke of areas that the Court was keen to improve to enhance litigants’ experiences in IP litigation in China, and IP developers’ rights in China in general. These included:
- strengthening the construction of systems and mechanisms to further improve the quality and efficiency of intellectual property trials- strengthening trial concepts to further promote the high-quality development of judicial protection of intellectual property rights- strengthening the protection of high-tech achievements and new business structures to further promote technological breakthroughs and in-depth transformation and upgrading of industries- strengthening the protection of the interests of scientific researchers to further stimulate the vitality of innovation and creation - strengthening the maintenance of fair competition order to further promote the innovative allocation of production factors- strengthening equal protection and international cooperation to further promote high-level opening up- strengthening coordinated protection to further promote the establishment of a large-scale intellectual property protection work systems
There is no doubt that the IP litigation experience in China, has improved over the last 20 years. Damages awards have been rising, along with the confidence of IP rights owners to take matters to courts for the resolving of disputes. The next few years should continue to see improvements.
It was announced by the Court that:
- From January 2019 to June 2024, the court accepted a total of 20,338 cases and concluded 17,638 cases - In the past five years, cases involving foreign parties accounted for about 10% of the total number of new cases received by the court, with an average annual growth of 28.6%- Foreign-related cases accounted for as high as one-third of invention patent authorization and confirmation cases, and the number of cases in which all parties are foreign entities has continued to increase.
First Deputy Chief Judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court, He Zhonglin, emphasized that “continuing to implement equal protection and promoting open cooperation and mutual benefit in science and technology” are the principles and goals of the Court in hearing foreign-related cases. He also discussed the complex nature of shared international rights, licensing arrangements and coexistence across borders. A number of examples of IP cases involving cross-border issues were discussed.
Tao Kaiyuan, Vice President of the Court, spoke of areas that the Court was keen to improve to enhance litigants’ experiences in IP litigation in China, and IP developers’ rights in China in general. These included:
- strengthening the construction of systems and mechanisms to further improve the quality and efficiency of intellectual property trials- strengthening trial concepts to further promote the high-quality development of judicial protection of intellectual property rights- strengthening the protection of high-tech achievements and new business structures to further promote technological breakthroughs and in-depth transformation and upgrading of industries- strengthening the protection of the interests of scientific researchers to further stimulate the vitality of innovation and creation - strengthening the maintenance of fair competition order to further promote the innovative allocation of production factors- strengthening equal protection and international cooperation to further promote high-level opening up- strengthening coordinated protection to further promote the establishment of a large-scale intellectual property protection work systems
There is no doubt that the IP litigation experience in China, has improved over the last 20 years. Damages awards have been rising, along with the confidence of IP rights owners to take matters to courts for the resolving of disputes. The next few years should continue to see improvements.