Beijing IP Court announced the official acceptance of pre-hearing mediation procedures
Recently, to adapt to the change in the world regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the gradual increase in the population of China which means an immense growth of IP cases needed to be solved, the Beijing IP Court announced the official acceptance of pre-hearing mediation procedures.
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court which handles “first-instance IP civil or administrative cases with professional features involving patents, new varieties of plants, layout design of the integrated circuit, know-how and so on” has just announced that from August 2021, the pre-hearing mediation procedures will officially come into practice in administrative trademark cases.
Regarding the special personals to handle such complex meditations, the court has built a team of experts in all matters related to intellectual property to handle this issue. On the other hand, if the parties related to the cases want to handle the meditation themselves, they are free to do so.
The overall goal of this regulation is to reduce the number of IP cases that need to go to court and spare the judicial resources for more complex cases. Furthermore, it also aims to create a harmonious atmosphere where the plaintiff and the defendant can settle the dispute in peace.
Accordingly, the Beijing IP Court encourages parties to willingly discuss the possibility of mediation and participate in one.
If all possible solutions are made and no settlement can be reached in the pre-hearing mediation, the court will issue an official notice to accept the case and the case will proceed in a regular manner.
At the moment, the pre-hearing mediation procedures only apply to cases where a trademark has been refused, that is, where a trademark applicant and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAD) are the plaintiff and defendant.
Beijing IP Court announced the official acceptance of pre-hearing mediation procedures
These new improvements to the IP system have been added as a result of the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC (SPC) Judicial Opinion on Promoting the Reform of Administrative Litigation Proceedings by Dividing Complicated Cases and Simple Cases on 14 May 2021. Under this Judicial Opinion, the SPC requires Chinese courts to divide administrative disputes according to the complexity of the case. With these new changes, the judicial resources of the courts can be allocated to the more pressing matters. Additionally, the reform also aims to improve the quality, efficiency, and credibility of administrative adjudication.
On August 20th, 2021, the Beijing IP Court has given a further clarification of the incentives for setting up a pre-hearing mediation. The court stated:
“Administrative Trademark cases account for the largest proportion of cases heard by the court since its establishment. Among these cases, some are with simple facts and the rights and obligations between both parties are clear. According to Article 2 of the SPC opinion, those cases are simple cases. According to Article 5 of the Opinion, where a party involved in a case requests mediation or the court believes the case is more suitable to be resolved through mediation, the court shall direct the parties to settle on their own or through third parties”.
After which, the court also gave some examples of cases suitable for mediation which can be listed as:
- Some cases can be concluded by determining the status of cited marks. This means that if the mark has been deemed invalidated, it will no longer block the registration of a later mark.
- Some cases are brought to court because the TRAD did not make findings of fact due to it considered the evidence insufficient or it did not make full determinations of facts. Once the facts can be correctly defined, the dispute will be solved.
- Some cases relate to ongoing civil disputes. For those cases, the court said in case the civil and administrative disputes can be simultaneously resolved, the quality and efficiency of the trial will be significantly improved.
At the moment, there have been at least 300 cases being mediated.
***Other Articles***
– You could see How To Register Trademark in China here.
– You could visit here to see Procedure of Trademark in China.
– You could visit here to check Required documents of filing trademark in China.
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