On September 11, 2023, the Forum on Construction of Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Hainan Free Trade Port, with the theme of "Strengthening the Legal Protection on Intellectual Property Rights and Facilitating the High-quality Development of Free Trade Port", was successfully held in Sanya. The Forum was hosted by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Hainan Arbitration Center ("CIETAC Hainan Center"), co-organized by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Sanya Committee (“CCPIT Sanya Committee”), Sanya International Commercial Mediation Center and China (Sanya) Intellectual Property Protection Center, and supported by Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City Management Bureau. It aims to provide ideas and thoughts for Hainan to further improve its intellectual property protection system, create a first-class business environment for intellectual property, and promote the innovative development of Hainan Free Trade Port. Gu Yan, Vice President of CIETAC Arbitration Court, Shui Jun, Deputy Director of Department of Justice of Hainan Province, and Xie Tingguang, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Office of Hainan Province, attended the Forum and delivered speeches. Zhang Lei, Deputy Secretary General of the People’s Government Office of Sanya City, Hainan Province, delivered a speech on behalf of Sanya People’s Government. The opening ceremony was moderated by Lv Yan, Deputy Secretary General of CIETAC Hainan Center.

(Venue of the Forum)

Gu Yan, Vice President of CIETAC Arbitration Court, pointed out that the establishment of a sound mechanism for multiple disputes resolution of intellectual property rights is an important way to escort the high-quality development of Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City and to elevate the level of protection of intellectual property rights of the Free Trade Port. Arbitration is a professional, efficient, independent, confidential and flexible dispute resolution mechanism. Arbitral awards could be recognized and enforced in almost major jurisdiction. It is an important way to resolve disputes in the field of intellectual property. As the first arbitration institution in China, CIETAC has always attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights and dispute resolution, and has rich practical experience. In the past five years, CIETAC has accepted nearly 400 intellectual property related cases, with a total amount of nearly RMB 20 billion, involving 15 countries and regions such as the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany and the United Kingdom.

With regard to how to promote the legal service level of intellectual property rights dispute resolution in Hainan Free Trade Port, Gu Yan put forward four suggestions in light of the past experience of CIETAC: firstly, pay attention to the new industries and new business regimes, and provide more oriented dispute resolution services; second, focus on the training of intellectual property rights dispute resolution talents; third, improve the design of the system and rules; and last but not least, raise the awareness of the business entities on intellectual property rights protection and dispute resolution.

(Gu Yan, Vice President of CIETAC Arbitration Court, addressing the opening ceremony)

Shui Jun, Deputy Director of Department of Justice of Hainan Province, said that Hainan is building a special zone of intellectual property for "Nanfan and Seed Industry" with Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, and is striving to become a national demonstration area of intellectual property rights protection in the seed industry and a national pilot demonstration area of comprehensive intellectual property protection by 2025. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to attach great importance to the application of legal measures in strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, exercise the advantage of diversified dispute resolution mechanisms, and promote the international communication and cooperation on intellectual property.

Xie Tingguang, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Office of Hainan Province, pointed out that building a diversified dispute resolution mechanism for intellectual property rights and giving full play to the advantages of arbitration therein is the proper meaning of enhancing the level of intellectual property governance. It is hoped that all walks of life will take the Forum as an opportunity to encourage the research on intellectual property rights dispute resolution, and make positive contributions to the improvement of the intellectual property rights protection mechanism of Hainan Free Trade Port.

Zhang Lei, Deputy Secretary General of the People's Government Office of Sanya City, Hainan Province, on behalf of Sanya People's Government, delivered a speech. She pointed out that Sanya People's Government, guided by Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, has accelerated the top-level design, focused on the key areas of the seed industry and deep marine science and technology, continued to innovate the intellectual property rights protection mechanism of Free Trade Port, and contributed Sanya's wisdom and strength to the construction of the rule of law of intellectual property rights for Hainan Free Trade Port.

(From left to right: Shui Jun, Deputy Director of Department of Justice of Hainan Province; Xie Tingguang, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Office of Hainan Province; Zhang Lei, Deputy Secretary General of the People's Government Office of Sanya City, Hainan Province)

In the keynote speech session, Meng Ting, CIETAC arbitrator and Founding Partner of Golden Gate Law Firm, Yang Dongxia, Director of the Agriculture and Rural Rule of Law Research Center (Legal Service Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs) of Administration and Management Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Su Zhihui, Vice President of the Intellectual Property Court of Hainan Free Trade Port delivered keynote speeches on the topics of "Protection of Intellectual Property Rights during the Import and Export", "Thoughts on Improving the Dispute Resolution Mechanism of Intellectual Property in Seed Industry”, “Construction of Intellectual Property Hearing Mechanism in Free Trade Port". The session was moderated by Wang Yitan, Case Manager of CIETAC Hainan Center.

Meng Ting gave a brief introduction to the background and main features of the TRIPs Agreement under the title of "Protection of Intellectual Property Rights during the Import and Export". He further explained the key points and the latest development of four types of intellectual property protection issues in the import and export process, including parallel importation, OEM processing, modification, re-sale and distribution contracts, with reference to the abundant judicial cases.

With the title of " Thoughts on Improving the Dispute Resolution Mechanism of Intellectual Property in Seed Industry", Director Yang Dongxia introduced the current situation of intellectual property protection in China's seed industry in detail. She noted that the number of intellectual property rights disputes in seed industry has significantly increased in recent years, and seed industry intellectual property rights are characterized by urgency, specialty, confidentiality, effectiveness and other prominent features, which makes arbitration have natural advantages in resolving seed industry intellectual property disputes. She also offered her views and suggestions on how to establish the arbitration mechanism for intellectual property disputes in the seed industry.

Vice President Su Zhihui, under the title of "Construction of Intellectual Property Hearing Mechanism in the Free Trade Port", briefed on the innovation made by the intellectual property court in Hainan Free Trade Port, which is the function of hearing criminal cases, covering the whole process of filing, hearing and enforcement, etc. He further explained the construction of hearing mechanism of the intellectual property court in Hainan Free Trade Port in terms of the jurisdiction mechanism of intellectual property cases, the mechanism of multi-disciplinary dispute resolution, the mechanism of park service guarantee and convenience, adjudication guidelines of similar cases and reference mechanism of typical cases, the mechanism of innovative use of adjudication rules, the implementation of judgments, as well as the future explorations and innovations.

After the keynote speech, Ge Ruiming, Deputy Director of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City Administration Bureau, presented the important achievements and innovations made by Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City in recent years in building an intellectual property rights comprehensive service hub port under the title of "Exploration and Practice of Intellectual Property Special  Zone in Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City", which demonstrated the vitality and potential of the high-quality development of Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City.

Lv Yan, Deputy Secretary General of CIETAC Hainan Center, gave her closing remark for the Forum. She expressed her sincere gratitude to all the supporting departments, guests and media for the Forum. She believed that the Forum was rich in content and novel in perspective, which was a good start for promoting the construction of the rule of law on intellectual property rights protection in Hainan Free Trade Port, and encouraged more and more practitioners to devote themselves to the construction of the mechanisms forintellectual property rights dispute resolution in the future. In the future, CIETAC Hainan Center will strengthen cooperation with Yazhou Bay Administration Bureau to escort the construction of Hainan's intellectual property protection highland.

(From left to right, top to bottom: Lawyer Meng Ting, Director Yang Dongxia, Vice President Su Zhihui, Deputy Director Ge Ruiming, Deputy Secretary General Lv Yan, and Mr. Wang Yitan)

The Forum attracted nearly 100 on-site participants, such as representatives of government departments, judges, arbitrators, scholars, lawyers and media reporters. The participants expressed that the successful organization of the Forum has provided new ideas and inspiration for the innovative development of Hainan's intellectual property multiple dispute resolution system in the future.