Intellectual Property Rights Speech

Dear Friends:

The main contents of today’s press conference are twofold: First, to inform our country’s courts on the judicial protection of intellectual property rights in 2005. Basic situation; second, inform the main measures taken by our country’s courts to strengthen judicial protection of intellectual property rights.

1. The basic situation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in my country’s courts in 2005.

In 2005, under the supervision and guidance of the Supreme Court, local courts at all levels across the country generally strengthened the trial work of cases of intellectual property infringement, gave full play to the criminal, civil and administrative trial functions of the courts, and conducted trials in accordance with the law. We promptly accepted claims involving intellectual property rights, worked hard to improve the trial quality and efficiency of case handling, promptly and severely punished criminal acts that infringed on intellectual property rights in accordance with the law, and increased the civil liability that infringers should bear in accordance with the law, thus comprehensively strengthening our country's protection of intellectual property rights. The intensity of judicial protection has promoted independent innovation and scientific and technological progress, and promoted the improvement of my country's socialist market economic order of honesty and fair competition. The legal awareness of the whole society to consciously respect and protect intellectual property rights in accordance with the law has generally increased, and the judicial environment for the protection of intellectual property rights has been generally improved. and social environment have been further improved.

(1) Strengthening the criminal judicial protection of intellectual property rights

In 2005, local courts at all levels across the country gave full play to their criminal trial functions and promptly accepted cases involving crimes of intellectual property infringement. Criminal activities involving intellectual property infringement have been severely punished in accordance with the law, and my country's criminal judicial protection of intellectual property rights has been effectively strengthened.

Last year, the number of cases involving intellectual property infringement crimes accepted and concluded by local courts at all levels across the country increased significantly. Local courts at all levels across the country accepted 3,567 first-instance cases, a year-on-year increase of 28.36%. Among them, there were 524 criminal cases of intellectual property infringement, an increase of 35.40%; 1,117 criminal cases of producing and selling counterfeit and inferior goods, an increase of 16.48%; and 1,926 criminal cases of illegal business operations, an increase of 34.40%. Local courts at all levels across the country concluded 3,529 criminal cases involving intellectual property infringement, a year-on-year increase of 28.28%.

Last year, among the cases involving intellectual property crimes concluded by local courts at all levels across the country, there was a significant increase in the number of guilty verdicts and sentences of imprisonment or above. Local courts at all levels across the country issued legally effective judgments, with 5,336 people sentenced to death, an increase of 30.66%. Among them, 5,319 people were convicted, accounting for 99.68%; 2,963 people were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or above, accounting for 55.53%, an increase of 23.90%. Among the cases that have been concluded, there were 505 criminal cases of intellectual property infringement, with 741 people having effective judgments; 1,121 criminal cases of producing and selling fake and inferior goods, with 1,942 people having effective judgments; 1,903 criminal cases of illegal business operations, with 2,653 people having effective judgments.

(2) Strengthening the civil judicial protection of intellectual property rights

In 2005, local courts at all levels across the country gave full play to their civil trial functions and promptly accepted various claims involving intellectual property rights in accordance with the law. , and strive to improve the trial quality and case handling efficiency of cases, and strengthen the protection of rights holders by strictly in accordance with the law, ordering infringers and breaching parties to bear civil liabilities such as compensation, imposing civil sanctions on infringers in accordance with the law, and taking pre-litigation injunctions and other litigation measures in accordance with the law. and judicial relief from non-breaching parties, further strengthening the civil judicial protection of intellectual property rights.

Last year, the number of civil cases involving intellectual property infringement accepted and concluded by local courts across the country increased significantly. *** Accepted 16,583 intellectual property cases of first instance, second instance and retrial including unfair competition, a year-on-year increase of 20.66%; concluded 16,453 cases, a year-on-year increase of 29.60%. 13,424 new first-instance cases were accepted, an increase of 26%.

Among them, there were 6,096 copyright cases, an increase of 42.96%; 2,947 patent rights cases, an increase of 15.61%; 1,782 trademark rights cases, an increase of 34.49%; 1,303 unfair competition cases, a decrease of 2.10%; and 636 technology contract cases, an increase of 0.95 %; there were 156 cases of new plant variety rights, a decrease of 10.26%; and 504 cases of other intellectual property rights, an increase of 31.59%. A total of 13,393 first-instance cases were concluded, an increase of 38.04%. The total amount of completed litigation was 2.612 billion yuan, with an average of 195,000 yuan. There were 3,114 new second-instance cases accepted, an increase of 2.40%; 3,016 cases were concluded, an increase of 3.04%. 45 new cases were accepted for retrial and 44 cases were concluded.

The intellectual property civil cases accepted last year had the following four characteristics: First, among the intellectual property civil cases, a relatively high proportion of infringement and ownership cases accounted for 89.02% of the newly accepted first-instance cases in 2005. Second, the regional distribution of such cases is uneven, mainly concentrated in economically and culturally developed areas such as Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Shanghai. In 2005, these six provinces and cities accounted for 65.38% of such first-instance cases nationwide. Third, the settlement rate of mediation cases is relatively high. Courts at all levels generally pay attention to and strengthen litigation mediation when hearing civil dispute cases involving intellectual property rights. 7,247 first-instance cases reached an agreement or were withdrawn through mediation, accounting for 7,247 of the total cases concluded in the first instance. 54. Fourth, the amount of compensation determined by court judgments has increased, and the number of cases in which compensation methods are applied to determine the amount of compensation has increased significantly. In some cases, the maximum statutory compensation amount has been applied in accordance with the law, which has increased the civil liability of intellectual property infringers.

II. Main measures taken by courts to strengthen judicial protection of intellectual property rights

Since 2005, the Supreme Court and local courts at all levels have conscientiously performed their judicial duties and adopted various feasible measures to effectively strengthen the judicial protection of intellectual property rights. It has improved the judicial protection of intellectual property rights and comprehensively improved the level of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our courts. These measures mainly include:

(1) Cooperate with the launch of special actions to protect intellectual property rights and establish a supervision system for major cases of intellectual property infringement crimes. In May 2005, the Supreme Court issued the "Notice on Giving Full Play to the Role of Trial Functions and Actively Participating in Rectifying and Standardizing the Market Economic Order," requiring courts at all levels to focus on the crime of intellectual property infringement and to resolutely and promptly punish intellectual property infringement in accordance with the law. Property crime. At the same time, it is necessary to give full play to the functions of civil and commercial trials of courts, strictly enforce the civil liability of infringers, and sanction civil violations that infringe on intellectual property rights; if suspected economic crimes are discovered during the course of civil litigation, suspected clues and materials must be reported promptly. Transfer the case to the relevant public security organs or procuratorial organs for investigation and handling. Recently, the Supreme Court issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Trial Work of Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement", once again reaffirming that courts at all levels will work closely with relevant departments to establish a supervision system for major cases of intellectual property infringement crimes, and investigate major cases solved case by case. Register, track and supervise, so that crimes that infringe on intellectual property rights receive the punishment and sanctions they deserve, and resolutely crack down on criminal activities that infringe on intellectual property rights.

(2) Strengthen judicial interpretation work and continuously improve my country’s intellectual property litigation system. Based on various new situations and issues that arise in intellectual property trials and in accordance with my country's relevant laws and regulations, the Supreme Court has strengthened its judicial interpretation of the application of laws related to intellectual property trials, further improved my country's intellectual property litigation system, and comprehensively improved This has improved the level of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our country. In October 2005, the Supreme Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the "Reply on Issues Related to the Handling of Criminal Cases of Copyright Infringement Involving Audio and Video Products", which further clarified the conviction and sentencing of intellectual property crimes involving audio and video products. standards, strengthening the criminal judicial protection of intellectual property rights. In addition, in response to some of the more prominent legal application issues in civil trials of intellectual property rights, the Supreme Court, based on in-depth research and extensive solicitation of opinions, drafted rules involving unfair competition, infringement of new plant varieties, conflicts of intellectual property rights, music television Four draft judicial interpretations on such issues were posted online to solicit public opinions in November 2005.

At present, the solicitation of opinions has ended. The Supreme Court is organizing efforts to summarize and organize the relevant revision opinions, and will revise and improve the above-mentioned judicial interpretation draft based on these opinions and suggestions, striving to publish and implement it as soon as possible.

(3) Take litigation measures in accordance with the law to prevent the right holder from expanding the losses. Local courts at all levels across the country attach great importance to and apply pre-litigation interim measures, property preservation during litigation, advance enforcement and other litigation measures in accordance with the law to stop infringements in a timely manner to effectively prevent the expansion of the rights holder's losses. According to statistics, from the revision of the three major intellectual property laws to October 2005, local courts across the country accepted 301 pre-litigation injunction cases and concluded 299 cases. In cases where the applicant insisted on applying, the actual ruling support rate reached 88.06%; *** accepted 470 pre-litigation evidence preservation cases, 445 of which were concluded. Among cases where applicants insisted on applying, the actual ruling support rate reached 95.02%; *** accepted 147 pre-litigation property preservation cases, and 142 were concluded In cases where the applicant insisted on applying, the actual ruling support rate reached 96.64%.

(4) Earnestly perform judicial review functions and strengthen supervision of intellectual property administrative actions in accordance with the law. Local courts at all levels across the country have conscientiously performed their judicial review functions in cases involving patents, trademarks and other authorization cases and intellectual property administrative enforcement cases, protected the legitimate rights and interests of administrative counterparts in accordance with the law, and further promoted the administration of administrative agencies in accordance with the law. In 2005, local courts at all levels across the country accepted 575 new first-instance intellectual property administrative cases, a year-on-year increase of 9.32%; and concluded 576 cases, a year-on-year increase of 4.92%. Among them, there were 335 new patent cases, a decrease of 11.14%; 209 trademark cases, an increase of 48.23%; and 31 copyright cases, an increase of 287.50%. Among patent and trademark administrative cases, there are mainly cases in which the Patent Reexamination Board and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board are defendants.

(5) Identify well-known trademarks in accordance with the law and strengthen judicial protection of well-known trademarks. Local courts at all levels across the country have strengthened judicial protection of well-known trademarks in accordance with the law, effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign trademark owners. In accordance with the principles of case-by-case identification, passive identification and identification based on case needs, as of October 2005, local courts at all levels across the country had recognized 72 well-known trademarks. Among them, among the 42 cases recognized from January to October 2005, the rights holders of 9 well-known trademarks were foreigners. At this press conference, we have provided the status of these 72 well-known trademark cases to all journalists.

(6) Promptly adjust the courts receiving lawsuits and rationally allocate judicial resources to protect intellectual property rights. In order to promptly accept the claims of right holders in accordance with the law and improve the efficiency of the trial of intellectual property cases, the Supreme Court has designated four more courts since last year: Quanzhou in Fujian, Jinhua in Zhejiang, Nantong in Jiangsu, and Zhuzhou in Hunan based on the actual situation of courts in various places accepting intellectual property cases. The Intermediate Court serves as the first-instance court for patent dispute cases; three intermediate courts in Jiuquan, Wuwei, and Zhangye of Gansu Province are designated as the first-instance court for new plant variety disputes. As of now, there are 52, 37 and 43 intermediate courts nationwide with jurisdiction over first instance cases of patents, new plant varieties and integrated circuit layout designs respectively. The Supreme Court also approved some grassroots courts in some major cities to accept first-instance civil dispute cases on intellectual property rights other than patents, new plant varieties and integrated circuit layout design cases. By the end of 2005, 15 grassroots courts across the country had obtained jurisdiction over intellectual property cases. These adjustments made by the Supreme Court to the courts that accept intellectual property rights have optimized the allocation of resources for judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our country, will play a very important role in improving the quality and efficiency of case handling, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of right holders.

(7) Strengthen professional training and strive to improve the overall business level. In 2005, the Supreme Court held two intellectual property trial training courses at the National Judges College. A total of 250 judges from local courts who specialize in hearing intellectual property cases received training; many higher courts also held similar training courses or special topics. Seminar, so far intellectual property judges across the country have generally received a rotation training.

Through training, the legal level and professional knowledge level of intellectual property judges in courts at all levels across the country have been significantly improved. In 2006, the Supreme Court will take various forms to further increase the training of intellectual property judges. On March 21 this year, the Second Criminal Tribunal of the Supreme Court will co-organize the "China-EU Seminar and High-Level Forum on Criminal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights" in Xiamen in cooperation with the European Union. These trainings and seminars are of great significance in improving the professional quality of intellectual property judges and promoting the improvement of the level of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our country.

(8) Carry out in-depth investigation and research and strive to promote the improvement of the judicial protection mechanism for intellectual property rights. The fundamental way to strengthen intellectual property protection lies in reforming and improving the law enforcement system and working mechanism for intellectual property protection. Currently, relevant national departments are studying the issue of improving the national intellectual property enforcement system. The Supreme Court is also conducting a special survey titled "Improving the Judicial Protection Mechanism for Intellectual Property Rights." On the basis of in-depth investigation and research, with the goal of facilitating litigant litigation and court hearings, optimizing trial resource allocation, simplifying relief procedures, and ensuring unified law enforcement, we propose to improve the organizational foundation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in my country and rationalize the procedural operation mechanism. scientific countermeasures and will strive to promote the transformation and implementation of research results.

(9) Actively take various feasible measures to further enhance the transparency of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our courts. Recently, the Supreme Court issued the "Notice on Preparing for the Internet of Intellectual Property Judgment Documents," requiring qualified higher courts to gradually make effective judicial documents of intellectual property cases within their jurisdictions publicly available online, further increasing the number of Chinese courts' access to intellectual property judicial documents. Transparency of protection; at the same time, it also promotes the legal system of intellectual property to the society to improve the awareness of the whole society in protecting intellectual property. Today, I am here to announce to all our journalist friends: The Intellectual Property Judgment Document Column of the China Court Website of the Supreme People’s Court is officially launched today. All our journalist friends and people from all walks of life are welcome to log in and visit. Last year, the Supreme Court announced ten typical cases on the protection of intellectual property rights, and will announce ten more typical cases on the protection of property rights in the near future to fully reflect to the society the basic situation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our courts. At the same time, we will also use multiple channels to actively guide public opinion and create a judicial and social environment conducive to intellectual property protection. The Supreme Court also decided that the third civil tribunal of the Supreme Court and the tribunals of relevant local courts that are specifically responsible for hearing civil intellectual property cases can use the title "intellectual property tribunal" at the same time.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of an important news. The Supreme Court and the local high courts will establish and improve the press spokesperson system. The spokesperson of the Supreme Court will release the press spokesperson to the public regularly or irregularly. The Supreme Court has made major arrangements for its work and answered some important questions of social concern, further reflecting the judicial transparency of our country.

Dear journalists: Our country’s courts will more fully play their role in judicial protection of intellectual property rights, equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign intellectual property holders in accordance with the law, effectively fulfill our country’s obligations in judicial protection of intellectual property rights, and comprehensively Improve the level of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in our courts to promote the implementation of our country's innovative national strategy and the improvement of our country's unified, open, honest and trustworthy socialist market economic system with fair competition.

Thank you everyone.