Recently, as entrusted by ShanghaiIntellectual Property Court, Wang Yujun, mediator of Shanghai Software Industry Association, settled a case of dispute over software development contract between the Plaintiff (Defendant in Counterclaim) TMO Group (Shanghai) Co. Ltd and the Defendant (Plaintiff in Counterclaim) Shanghai MAUCC Information Technology Co., Ltd. successfully.

In this case, the parties signed a “MAUCC Corporate Website Development Agreement (Phase I)”, which stipulated that TMO will develop a corporate website for MAUCC and the contract amount will be paid in four installments. However, at the third stage of development, the parties disputed whether the software complied with the contract requirements. Given that the software involved was relatively complex, the defendant filed a counterclaim during the trial and both parties provided new evidence during four times of evidence exchange, He Yuan, the responsible judge, decided to entrust Shanghai Software Industry Association with mediation after clearing the case up and obtaining the consent of both parties. Wang Yujun, mediator of Shanghai Software Industry Association, consulted the industry experts FROM the Intellectual Property Appraisal Center of Shanghai Association for Science and Technology upon getting the case file and demonstrated the software in court. Thanks to his sound software expertise, the parties finally signed a mediation agreement on the basis of equality and legitimacy.

This was the first case successfully mediated in court by a third party since Shanghai Intellectual Property Court implemented the Plans for Advancing the Commissioned Court Mediation in March this year. When handling intellectual property cases, it’ll be helpful to resolve the disputes and improve the efficiency of litigation by introducing diversified dispute resolution mechanisms. Shanghai Intellectual Property Court will further make every effort to promote the in-depth growth of commissioned mediations, strengthen the communication with mediation organizations and sum up experience to promote more disputes to be resolved in time through the diversified dispute resolution mechanisms.