Industry Hot Spots | The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office jointly issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Collaborative Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Opinions of the Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office on Strengthening the Collaborative Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

To the High People's Courts and Intellectual Property Offices of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Military Courts of the People's Liberation Army, the Branch of the Production and Construction Corps of the High People's Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Intellectual Property Office of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee on comprehensively strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, and earnestly implement the Outline for Building a Strong Country in Intellectual Property Rights (2021-2035) issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Use of Intellectual Property Rights issued by the State Council, and the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, optimize the coordination and cooperation mechanism, and strengthen the degree of coordinated protection, The following Opinions are hereby put forward to deepen cooperation between judicial organs and intellectual property management departments in efforts to protect intellectual property rights, and to jointly promote the establishment of a work pattern of "strict protection, large-scale protection, rapid protection, and simultaneous protection" of intellectual property rights.

1. General requirements

Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, earnestly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important instructions on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights and the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, adhere to the path of intellectual property development with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the core position of innovation in the overall situation of China's modernization, comprehensively strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and clarify the responsibilities, powers and jurisdiction of administrative and judicial organs. Improve the linkage mechanism between administrative and judicial protection of intellectual property rights, work together to ensure the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, create a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, promote the construction of a world-class intellectual property power with Chinese characteristics, and provide a solid guarantee for building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.

2. Establish a normalized liaison mechanism

(1) Clarify the liaison body. The Third Civil Trial Division of the Supreme People's Court, the Intellectual Property Tribunal and the Intellectual Property Protection Department of the State Intellectual Property Office shall be the day-to-day liaison agencies for the overall coordination of protection work, and shall each designate a contact person to be responsible for daily communication and liaison. The people's courts and intellectual property management departments below the provincial level shall, on the basis of actual local conditions, establish corresponding liaison mechanisms and designate special personnel to be responsible.

(2) Establish a consultation mechanism. The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office are to establish a coordination and consultation mechanism for the protection of intellectual property rights, organize and convene meetings on a regular basis, invite the people's procuratorates, public security organs and other relevant departments to participate as needed for work, strengthen research on common and trending issues in the protection of intellectual property rights, propose countermeasures, and confirm consensus in the form of meeting minutes, countersigned documents, and joint issuance of guiding opinions, and the responsible party is responsible for implementation. People's courts and intellectual property management departments at the provincial level or below should actively broaden channels and methods of communication in their daily work, gradually establish normalized and diversified consultation and communication mechanisms, and jointly study and implement relevant work.

(3) Strengthen information sharing. Promote the establishment of mechanisms for the exchange of information related to the administrative authorization and confirmation of intellectual property rights and judicial adjudication, strengthen communication and contact on new issues and new situations in the administrative enforcement and judicial adjudication of intellectual property rights, and improve the level of law enforcement and justice. Complete and improve the existing dedicated lines between the Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office, and promote administrative and judicial business coordination and data sharing. Focus on strengthening the sharing of statistical information on indicators such as the rate of first-instance judgment settlement in intellectual property civil cases, the rate of upholding the first and second instance of intellectual property administrative cases, and the records of well-known trademark recognition, so as to improve the efficiency of administrative authorization and confirmation of intellectual property rights and related judicial trials. Promote the use of patent judicial investigation and control platforms in the court system, and do a good job in the preservation of patent assets.

3. Strengthen business cooperation

(4) Promote the improvement of laws and policies related to coordinated protection. In the process of formulating and revising laws, regulations and judicial interpretations related to the protection of intellectual property rights, fully exchange views. Promote the improvement of litigation norms that conform to the rules of adjudication of intellectual property cases, and complete the administrative adjudication system for intellectual property infringement disputes. Improve the mechanism for the use of patent evaluation reports in infringement litigation. Coordinate and advance research on systems related to the protection of intellectual property rights in data, complete systems for the protection of rights and interests in data elements, and promote the establishment of basic systems for data.

(5) Promote the unification of administrative and judicial standards. Establish a feedback and communication mechanism for the standards for the granting and confirmation of patents and trademarks, and the standards for evidence in judicial and administrative law enforcement, give play to the functions of judicial support and supervision of administration in accordance with law, and promote the coordination and unification of administrative adjudication standards, including mechanisms for early resolution of drug patent disputes, and judicial adjudication standards. Promote the convergence of standards for administrative law enforcement of intellectual property rights and criminal justice case filing, and jointly improve the pattern of intellectual property protection.

(6) Guide the advancement of coordinated protection. Strengthen coordination and cooperation between intellectual property management departments and people's courts, and promote the effective development of work related to applications for compulsory enforcement of administrative rulings in patent infringement disputes. Accelerate the coordinated trial of civil litigation for intellectual property infringement and administrative procedures for related authorization and confirmation of rights, stabilize the status of rights as soon as possible, and improve the efficiency of rights protection. Promote the rapid handling of administrative litigation cases related to major patent infringement disputes. Fully summarize and promote the experience of pre-litigation mediation of intellectual property disputes, deepen the "general to general" online litigation and mediation docking mechanism, continue to unblock online and offline mediation and litigation docking channels, further improve the interconnection and interconnection of intellectual property dispute mediation information, explore a judicial confirmation system for administrative mediation agreements for intellectual property disputes based on the application of the parties, and promote the construction of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism for intellectual property rights with Chinese characteristics. Jointly strengthen the discovery, screening, and regulation of malicious trademark registrations, abnormal patent applications, and malicious litigation, advance the establishment of mechanisms for reporting cases of serious violations and untrustworthiness in the field of intellectual property rights, explore joint disciplinary action, and create a social environment of honesty and trustworthiness. Jointly guide and advance efforts related to the rapid and coordinated protection of local intellectual property rights, strengthen business exchanges between the people's courts at all levels and local intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, share the resources of the trial hall of the intellectual property protection center, and improve the quality and effectiveness of collaborative protection.

(7) Strengthen professional and technical support. People's courts at all levels and departments for the management of intellectual property rights should complete and make full use of the expert consultation database and technical investigation talent pool established by both sides, strengthen cross-regional resource sharing, and promote the scientific and unified approach to the identification of professional and technical issues in the administrative and judicial protection of intellectual property rights. Jointly strengthen the dissemination and utilization of basic information on intellectual property, encourage and support the construction of special intellectual property databases in key areas and industries, and promote economic and social innovation and development. Jointly promote the professionalization and standardization of intellectual property appraisal institutions, and the administrative departments of intellectual property rights will include appraisal institutions that implement intellectual property appraisal standards in the directory and make them public for the people's courts to choose and use, and establish a feedback mechanism for the practice of intellectual property appraisal institutions, so as to promote the accurate and efficient identification of technical facts and reduce the cost of protecting the rights of the public.

(8) Strengthen research on key operations. Jointly strengthen research on macro strategies for intellectual property protection, and carry out joint research and research on major difficulties and frontier issues in the administrative and judicial protection of intellectual property rights in key areas and industries. Strengthen cooperation in the establishment of major theoretical topics, research and transformation of achievements. Fully rely on the national research base for the implementation of the intellectual property strategy and the people's courts' research bases for the judicial protection of intellectual property rights and theoretical research bases, organize business backbones, experts and scholars to conduct discussions and exchanges, and jointly promote the improvement of laws and policies.

(9) Promote cross-regional cooperation and joint construction. The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office have strengthened guidance and supervision of the people's courts and intellectual property management departments at all levels, and jointly promoted the establishment and improvement of cooperation mechanisms between the people's courts and intellectual property management departments in key regions (Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta/Pan-Pearl River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, Haixi, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, etc.) around the regional development strategic plans formulated by the state, and improved the comprehensive intellectual property protection system. Accelerate the construction of national intellectual property protection demonstration zones, and lead the overall improvement of the level of intellectual property protection.

(10) Deeply participate in global intellectual property governance. The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office (CNIPA) have worked closely together in international cooperation to track and study international trends and issues in the field of intellectual property protection, and to promote the formulation of international rules and standards related to intellectual property protection. Strengthen communication in international negotiations related to the protection of intellectual property rights, and earnestly safeguard China's intellectual property interests. Actively share China's excellent experience and cases in intellectual property protection, and jointly support the capacity building of intellectual property protection in developing countries. We will work together to strengthen cooperation in the protection of foreign-related intellectual property rights, create a world-class business environment, and help Chinese enterprises "go global".

Fourth, strengthen job security

(11) Strengthen personnel exchanges and training. Summarize the relevant experience of the Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office, and further improve the talent exchange mechanism. The people's courts at all levels and the intellectual property management departments may, according to the needs of their work, send cadres with high overall quality and strong professional ability to exchange and study, so as to promote in-depth business cooperation between the two sides. Explore and carry out surveys on the status of intellectual property human resources in the people's courts. Jointly compile training materials, and effectively improve professional capabilities and enhance the level of comprehensive protection of intellectual property rights by jointly organizing training and exchanges, sending personnel to participate in training organized by the other party, inviting business experts from the other party to give lectures, and jointly carrying out business training for mediators in the field of intellectual property.

(12) Strengthen assessment guidance. The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office respectively guide the people's courts at all levels and intellectual property management departments to establish mechanisms for regular information reporting, regularly evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of protection work, and summarize and promote typical experiences and practices. The Supreme People's Court and the State Intellectual Property Office regularly commend and encourage collectives and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the protection of intellectual property rights in the people's courts and intellectual property management departments.

(13) Strengthen publicity and guidance. People's courts at all levels and intellectual property management departments should strengthen publicity efforts on the protection of intellectual property rights, innovate publicity methods, identify publicity highlights, expand publicity channels, and use methods such as holding press conferences, publishing white papers, and typical cases to publicize the effects of comprehensive administrative and judicial protection of intellectual property rights, create a positive social atmosphere of respecting innovation and protecting intellectual property rights, and demonstrate China's determination and effectiveness in protecting intellectual property rights.

Supreme People's Court, State Intellectual Property Office

February 20, 2023