The Dream Factory of China

Continuous efforts have been made to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) in Qianhai over the past years, according to a white paper on IPR protection in the free trade area released in both Chinese and English by Qianhai Cooperation Zone People’s Court April.23.

The Qianhai court said in the white paper that it has heard 3,694 IPR-related cases involving a total of 346 million yuan (US$48.85 million) since July 2016, and 3,236 of them were closed.

According to the white paper, the innovation-driven economy has undergone a fast development in Qianhai over the past few years, resulting in the increasing number of IPR-related cases heard at the court. The white paper said most of the IPR cases, accounting for nearly 82 percent of the total, heard at the court were related to the infringement on IPR on the Internet.

Thanks to the implementation of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism, the number of IPR cases withdrawn from the judiciary organ has increased year by year, reaching 42.9 percent of the total in 2020, the white paper said, adding that the mechanism has effectively lowered the cost of IPR protection for enterprises.

The court has also formulated a ruling guideline on IPR cases, in which punitive punishment has been introduced to increase the cost of IPR infringement. The punitive punishment system has protected IPR and encouraged innovation in Qianhai.

To address the lengthy judiciary procedure of an IPR dispute, the court has piloted a resolution mechanism that combines online hearing and mediating offline. Based on the construction of the smart court system, all IPR cases will be heard online, shortening the time spent on protecting IPR. According to the white paper, the average hearing period for IPR disputes applicable to summary procedures or small-value expedited procedure has been shortened to 24.7 days.

A professional adjudication team has been formed with professional judges, senior Hong Kong jurors, IPR experts and professional technical investigators to take charge of the IPR cases in Qianhai.

The court has worked closely with a number of Qianhai-registered companies including QQ Music and BYD International Leasing to prevent IPR infringement from the source. The court has dispatched mediators to the companies to mediate on over 3,000 disputes.

In addition, mediators with IPR expertise from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas countries have been hired to participate in the mediations. As of March, they have mediated 320 IPR cases, 107 of which have been resolved.