NANNING: Judicial bodies from China and Asean have agreed to enhance cooperation on intellectual property rights to promote international intellectual property (IP) protection.
They have also called for extensive exchanges of information and work experience in fighting IP infringement by holding meetings or organising training programmes to improve judges’ abilities to handle IP disputes and promote the professionalism of case hearings.
Their remarks were made at the Third China-Asean Justice Forum held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, as well as via video link on Wednesday.
He Rong, executive vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, said Chinese courts have always attached great importance to protecting IP rights “and we’re willing to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with courts of Asean members in building IP-related international rules that are open, inclusive, balanced and effective”.
According to her, courts across China firmly stick to the philosophy that protecting IP rights means protecting innovation, with more efforts in improving the professionalism of IP-related case hearings by setting up specialised courts and optimising adjudication rules.
Statistics provided by He showed that Chinese courts concluded 541,000 IP-related disputes in 2021 – more than five times the number in 2013 – of which 10,167 involved foreign parties.
Chinese courts provide equal protection for litigants from home and abroad, she said, adding that China is becoming a preferred place for international IP-related litigation. — China Daily/ANN
