Across China: Beijing

IP lawsuit forum

The law firm Beijing Kangxin hosted a forum on the growing number of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) lawsuits in China.

More than 140 representatives of legal divisions and IP departments of local businesses attended the recent meeting.

Yu Gang, a partner at, Beijing Kangxin, said IPR lawsuits are growing by at least 30 percent a year in China.

Patent infringement cases are becoming more complex, requiring businesses to stay informed about evolving decisions to protect their patents, Yu said.

The title of the forum was "Experts' Views on IP Lawsuits".

Patent infringements

The State Intellectual Property Office reported that the national IP strategy is leading to more patent infringement arrests.

The Ministry of Public Security this year investigated 5,231 cases involving illegal publications, arrested 11,000 suspects and carried out special inspections of printing firms across China in partnership with the State Copyright Office.

The Ministry of Culture seized 21.77 million pieces of audio visual products and 5.49 million illegal books and magazines during the first six months of this year.

Gan Shaoning, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office, said China's IP protection environment is producing record results this year.

Dispute resolution

The Supreme People's Court has released a series of legal opinions designed to increase the use of dispute resolution mechanisms as an alternative to court trials.

Jiang Huiling, vice director of the Judicial Reform Office of the Supreme People's Court, said IPR disputes should be considered for non-judicial mediation.

The court recently released "Several Opinions on Setting up a Contradiction-Solving Mechanism to Connect Litigation and Non-Litigation in Beijing" as the guidelines.

Jiang said the document also encourages mediation training.

The court's guidelines include steps to take in reaching conciliation agreements, as well as available enforcement mechanisms.

Interested parties also can apply to the court for full jurisdiction over cases to ensure they are enforced and to decide enforcement questions.

(China Daily 08/24/2009 page9)