Recently, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court held a pretrial conference on a dispute over computer software development contract by way of remote video hearing. The conference attended by and between the responsible judge, clerk and plaintiff’s lawyer, who were in court, the defendant’s lawyer, who was on business trip in Beijing, and the defendant’s staff, who were in the defendant’s company, was finished in 45 minutes successfully. Just the night before the date of pretrial conference, the responsible judge, Shang Jian’gang, was told over the phone that the defendant’s agent couldn’t be present for a business trip in Beijing, and he immediately suggested the defendant to take a pretrial conference by remote video, so that the party who is able to appear in court won’t have to change the schedule. With the consent of both parties, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court held installed and debugged relevant equipment urgently to ensure that the pictures and sounds are stable and clear, so that the pretrial conference will be held as scheduled. Judge Shang Jian’gang said that in case it’s impossible for the parties to appear in court, default hearing isn’t conducive to fact-finding. We should try our best to find out the facts, establish the responsibilities and stop the disputes by making full use of the information technology.

It is always the goal of Shanghai Intellectual Property Court to create a better judicial environment and trial environment for the parties concerned by making full use of the information technology and innovating the trial methods. The court has been constantly exploring and perfecting the information technology means, and conducted court sessions, mediations and technical hearings by virtue of remote video to ensure the normalization of remote video hearings.