Beijing High People's Court releases reform plan

Beijing High People's Court is exploring ways to formulate compensation rules in environmental cases to support the capital's green development as part of its 35 reform measures.

It is also looking at improving efforts to deal with intellectual property disputes, according to the reform plan issued by the high court on Monday. The IP-related measure is a new judicial step in the city's efforts to build a sound business environment by rule of law.

The plan requires Beijing courts to apply punitive damages in IP-related disputes, in a bid to strongly curb infringements and stimulate innovation.

It also states that legal exchanges between courts in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, should be strengthened, calling for them to set up an IP-related information sharing system and attach greater importance to jointly solving cross-regional environmental cases.

In addition, the plan orders judges to optimize their legal services to ensure individuals and enterprises can be given easier access to filing cases and attending trials.

Data released by the high court showed that from January to September, courts across the city filed 324,000 cases through the internet and organized trials 273,000 times online.