On the morning of April 9, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court held a symposium and training session for technical investigators. Li Shulan, Vice President of Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, Chen Huizhen, full-time member of the Judicial Committee, technical investigators employed and heads of No.1 Intellectual Property Division, No.2 Intellectual Property Division and Technical Investigation Division attended the symposium, which was presided over by Chen Huizhen. Deputy Director Wu Denglou first summed up the work of Technical Investigation Division since its establishment from such aspects as team building, system construction, duty performance, centralized management and coordination of “four-in-one” technical fact-finding mechanism, and IT support, etc. After that, technical investigators exchanged their experience and put forward their own opinions and suggestions for future technical investigation work. They thought that the combination of symposium and training session was very good, which not only allowed them to exchange views, but also promoted the technical investigation work substantively. Vice President Li Shulan appreciated the effective technical assistance provided by technical investigators in technical intellectual property cases and affirmed their achievements made over the past two years. She put forward four requirements on the future work of technical investigators combining the requirements and spirit of the Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Strengthening Reform and Innovation in Intellectual Property Trials promulgated by the Central Committee of CPC and the General Office of the State Council. First, to find the right orientation and do a good job in technical investigation. Technical investigators are technical assistants of judges, responsible for helping judges to understand and find out the technical problems involved in cases and providing technical support for technical cases. According to the institutional design, technical investigators shall provide objective, impartial, neutral and professional technical examination opinions for the reference of judges. Second, to perform duty conscientiously and provide quality and efficient professional technical services. Technical investigators should make full use of their technical advantages to provide professional, impartial and efficient technical assistance. Technical Investigation Division should further explore the centralized management mechanism and coordination mechanism to integrate technical fact-finding, expert consultation, expert jury and “four-in-one” technical fact-finding means, and to give play to the role of technical investigator system in assisting technical fact-finding. Third, to forge ahead and actively accumulate the experience in technical investigator system. Technical investigators need tostrictly abide by the top-level design and the requirements of the Party Leadership Group on technical investigation, draw on the useful experience of foreign courts and fraternal courts, and continuously explore and summarize the technical investigator system in line with the characteristics of intellectual property courts. Fourth, to reinforce learning and build a high-quality, specialized technical investigator team. With the development of new technology and new industry, technical investigators should strengthen their study and constantly enhance their professionalism, so as to meet the needs of the trial work.

After the symposium, Presiding Judge Lu Fengyu and Presiding Judge He Yuan trained the technical investigators on patent and software cases respectively. Technical investigators said that they were very inspired and gained a great deal. It’s hoped that Shanghai Intellectual Property Court will strengthen the training on relevant legal knowledge, so that they can better serve the trials of intellectual property cases.