April 25, 2018 Xinmin Evening News Page 6 (Reporter Song Ninghua) Among intellectual property cases, most are related to patent and computer software copyright infringement. This morning, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court held a press conference to announce the IPR judicial protection by Shanghai courts in 2017. At the conference, the White Paper of Shanghai Intellectual Property Court on the Situation of IPR Judicial Projection in 2017 was released in both Chinese and English, showing the court’s achievements in IPR judicial protection and suggesting the countermeasures to cope with three “pain points.” The White Paper showed that Shanghai Intellectual Property Court accepted a total of 2,030 cased in 2017, up 8.15% from a year earlier. Most of the cases were related to patent and computer software copyright infringement, accounting for 21.87% and 13.55% respectively. Technology-related cases involving patent and computer software, etc. accounted for 96.06% of the total first-instance cases accepted. Over the past year, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court has given full play to the functions of “two SPC bases” and “two offices of judges,” and has devoted itself to serving the national strategy and the overall economic and social development of Shanghai. According to the White Paper, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court will continue to deepen the reform and innovation in IPR trials by improving the IPR litigation system and effectively giving full play to the functions of various mechanisms. It’s now working to solve the three “pain points” in IPR judicial protection, namely “difficulty in providing evidences,”“low compensation” and “long period.” To be specific, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court will make full use of the interim protective measure - litigation preservation, give full play the role of investigation orders and other measures in investigation and evidence collection and promote the good faith in IPR proceedings, thereby solving the difficulties in providing evidence and relieving the obligee’s burden of proof. It will actively determine the amount of compensation at judicial discretion based on statutory limit of compensation, impose severer punishment upon willful and repeated infringement, support reasonable expenses incurred by the obligee for protecting his rights, reduce the cost of protecting rights and increase the cost of infringement, thereby solving the problem of “low compensation” and fully realize the market value of intellectual property rights. As to “long period,” it will deepen the “four-in-one” technical fact-finding mechanism that integrates technical investigation, technical consulting, expert jury and technical appraisal, deepen the diversified dispute resolution mechanism dominated by pre-trial mediation and court mediation, strengthen the in-depth application of information technologies and establish the mechanism of service by entrusted notaries, thereby making judicial protection more convenient and effective.
