People’s Daily Online   April 10, 2018

JETRO organizes Japanese enterprises to visit Shanghai Intellectual Property Court every year. Hiroshi Saito, Deputy Director of JETRO Shanghai and the organizer of recent visit, said that Shanghai has become one of the preferred places for Japanese enterprises to file intellectual property lawsuits in China.

Why is Shanghai Intellectual Property Court favored by overseas parties and international intellectual property organizations? Let’s take a look at their letters.

Thanks for the equal protection of Chinese and foreign parties

In March 2018, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court received a thank-you letter from SAP. In the letter, Kraen K. Williams, vice president of the company, praised that “We were impressed by your unbiased respect for the intellectual property rights of multinational corporations and China’s determination to establish specialized intellectual property courts to protect the intellectual property rights.”

SAP is a German software company, which filed two lawsuits with Shanghai Intellectual Property Court after finding that many Chinese training institutions used their copyrighted computer software and training materials in their business activities without its permission. After hearing the case, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court found that there’re evidences proving the losses suffered by the copyright owner as a result of infringement has exceeded the legal maximum compensation limit of RMB 500,000, and therefore, in combination with all other evidences, ordered two defendants to compensate for SAP’s economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling RMB 1.18 million and RMB 1.55 yuan respectively according to the principle of entire indemnity

Agent ad litem said that this was the first lawsuit filed by the German company in China against a domestic training institution. It isn’t sure about the litigation outcome but was finally relieved after knowing the court ruling. The company requested specifically that this letter be sent to Shanghai Intellectual Property Court to express its feelings and recognition of the court’s equal protection to the intellectual property rights of multinational corporations.

Thanks for the court’s quick resolution of the dispute

In December 2017, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court also received a thank-you letter from Dart Industries Inc. for the judges’ professionalism, due diligence, impartiality and promptness when handling the case. “The judges invited the People’s Mediation Committee of Shanghai Pudong Intellectual Property Association innovatively to participate in the mediation after perceiving the possibility of reconciliation in this case based on their rich experience. Thanks to their prompt follow-up and professional mediation of the mediation committee, the parties reached a settlement soon and the company’s design patent was protected in a timely manner. “

After the mediation, the responsible judge said that this case involved an assessment of the commercial value of 31 patents, with dozens of case files. Through the joint efforts of Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and the People’s Mediation Committee, the case was settled smoothly and the parties performed the mediation agreement in court, which saved both the judicial cost and the social cost, realizing win-win in real sense. It’s reported that Shanghai Intellectual Property Court has set up a regular assignment mechanism with Shanghai Software Industry Association, SFIC People’s Mediation Committee for Civil and Commercial Affairs, Shanghai Commercial Mediation Center and other social organizations as important move to build a diversified dispute resolution mechanism and thereby reduce the litigation exhaustion.

Positively evaluate the court’s contribution to the protection of intellectual property rights

In October 2015, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court received a letter from Etienne Sanz de Acedo, then President of the International Trademark Association, “Since its establishment in December 2014, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court has done a great deal of work to serve and guarantee the construction of a globally influential science and technology innovation center in Shanghai, especially forming a comprehensive intellectual property protection system by innovating the ways to perfect the communication and coordination mechanism with IPR related departments and strengthen the communication with intellectual property intermediaries, service organizations and trade associations. Shanghai Intellectual Property Court has reached a broad consensus with the International Trademark Association on supporting the protection of trademarks, intellectual property rights and rights holders’ and consumers’ interests, as well as on the promotion of a fair and effective trade order. “

These are the comments of President of the International Trademark Association after his visit to Shanghai Intellectual Property Court.