On the afternoon of April 18, 2024, on the eve of World Intellectual Property Day, as one of the important activities of the National Intellectual Property Publicity Week, the 2024 Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution Forum was successfully held in Xi'an under the theme of "Innovation of Diversified Dispute Resolution Mechanisms and Improvement of Collaborative Protection System for Intellectual Property". 

(Forum site)

The forum was co-hosted by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Xi'an Intermediate People's Court and the Administrative Committee of Xi'an Chanba International Trade & Logistics Park, and co-organized by the CIETAC Intellectual Property Arbitration Center and the CIETAC Silk Road Arbitration Center. Co-organizers include Shaanxi Provincial Intellectual Property Office, Shaanxi Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Justice, Shaanxi Provincial Lawyers' Association, Xi'an Municipal Lawyers' Association, and supporters include China Patent Protection Association, China Trademark Association, China Academy of Arbitration Law, Intellectual Property Specialized Committee of the All China Lawyers' Association, CCPIT Patent & Trademark Law Office, and China Patent Agency (Hong Kong) Ltd. etc. Nearly 300 people, including representatives of government agencies, judges, arbitrators, corporate legal services, lawyers, university professors and students, attended the forum on site.

Xu Yanbo, Deputy Secretary General of CIETAC, Zhao Lei, President of Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, and Yang Bing, Director of the Management Committee of Xi'an Chanba International Trade & Logistics Park, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches, while Chen Hongbing, Director of the Madrid Operations Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), delivered a message by video. The opening cere mony was presided over by Yang Fan, Director of Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution Division of CIETAC.

(Statement by Deputy Secretary-General Xu Yanbo)

Deputy Secretary General Xu Yanbo pointed out in his speech that protection of intellectual property rights is protection of innovation, and protection of innovation serves to accelerate the development of new quality productivity. This forum focuses on the synergistic development of digital industry and diversified disputes resolution mechanism, which deeply meets the requirements of developing new quality productivity and serving high-quality development. On the one hand, strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights is an important cornerstone for guaranteeing the healthy development of the digital economy, and it is the key to promoting the continuous innovation of the digital economy and constructing new advantages in international competition. On the other hand, collaborative protection through innovative diversified dispute resolution mechanisms is an inherent requirement and an important guarantee for the development of new quality productive forces, and is an important part of the construction of a major intellectual property protection work framework. CIETAC has always attached great importance to intellectual property protection and dispute resolution, and has taken a multi-pronged approach in terms of case hearing, team building, mechanism improving, platform building, publicity and research, cooperation and exchange, etc., to actively build a diversified dispute resolution mechanism for intellectual property, and to provide high-quality and efficient intellectual property dispute resolution services. CIETAC set up Intellectual Property Arbitration Center in 2022, which synergizes with the CIETAC Mediation Center established in 2018, forming an operational mechanism that emphasizes both mediation and arbitration, and IP dispute resolution and dispute settlement complement each other and progress in a coordinated manner. Taking this as a new starting point, the construction of professional teams for intellectual property dispute resolution of CIETAC has become more standardized and efficient, the theoretical and practical research has become more in-depth, and the exchanges and connections with administrative and judicial departments and industrial organizations in the field of intellectual property have become closer and more in-depth. In the future, CIETAC is willing to work with all parties to build consensus and strengthen cooperation, so as to build up energy for the development of new quality productivity and the continuous promotion of the construction of a strong intellectual property country.

(Video message from Director Chen Hongbing )

Director Chen Hongbing said in his video message that at a time when the pace of global scientific and technological innovation is accelerating and the intellectualization of the world economy is becoming more and more obvious, it is of special significance to improve the acquirement, management and protection of intellectual property rights. Enterprises should make full use of arbitration, mediation and other  diversified dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve intellectual property disputes and steadily promote the internationalization of their business. WIPO is willing to continue to maintain exchanges and cooperation with CIETAC and is confident that together we can achieve more results in the field of alternative dispute resolution for intellectual property.

(Statement by President Zhao Lei)

President Zhao Lei emphasized in his speech that the protection of intellectual property rights is a systematic project, and it is necessary to comprehensively use a variety of means to improve the protection system, strengthen the synergy and cooperation, and work together to build a large framework of intellectual property protection. The signing of the Cooperation Agreement on Promoting and Improving the Construction of Diversifed Dispute Resolution Mechanisms for International Commercial Disputes and Intellectual Property Disputes with CIETAC will further promote the experience of "Integrated Dispute Resolution—IDR" and better realize the connection and functional complementarity of "litigation-arbitration-mediation", and play a leading role as a model for the settlement of foreign-related intellectual property cases. He said that in the future, Xi'an Intermediate People's Court will continue to improve the whole chain protection system of intellectual property rights, join hands with all parties to form a strong synergy for the protection of intellectual property rights, and provide more powerful support and services to promote the development of innovation and creativity and accelerate the Chinese modernization.

(Statement by Director Yang Bing)

Director Yang Bing said in his speech that the rule of law is the best business environment, and the administrative committee of Chanba International Trade & Logistics Park attaches great importance to the construction of an internationalized and rule of law business environment, and is doing its best to promote the integrated development of industry, trade and city with the port, and to accelerate the construction of the Belt and Road International Commercial Legal Service Demonstration Zone.

Chanba International Port Administrative Committee is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with CIETAC, fully integrate the resource advantages of both sides, stimulate the innovation and vitality of market entities, and work together to build the most influential international commercial legal services demonstration zone in the "Belt and Road" and create a first-class international business environment.

(Director Yang Fan presided over the Opening Ceremony)

(Annual Report on International Intellectual Property Arbitration in China (2023) officially released)

As an important outcome of the Forum, Deputy Secretary General Xu Yanbo officially released the Annual Report on International Intellectual Property Arbitration in China (2023). As the only pioneering series of research reports focusing on intellectual property arbitration in China, the Annual Report is of great significance in strengthening the research and summarizing the practice of intellectual property arbitration, continuously enhancing the international influence and credibility of China’s intellectual property arbitration, and promoting the construction of the rule of law on intellectual property in China, and will be officially published by China Legal Publishing House in the near future.

(Signing of Cooperation Agreement between CIETAC and Xi'an Intermediate People's Court)  

CIETAC and Xi'an Intermediate People's Court also signed the Cooperation Agreement on Promoting and Improving the Construction of  Diversified Dispute Resolution Mechanism for International Commercial Disputes and Intellectual Property Rights, to further strengthen the synergy among judiciary, mediation and arbitration, and to form a diversified dispute resolution mechanism which is in accordance with the laws of each party's respective responsibilities, and which is mutually complementary and integrated in terms of effectiveness, so as to continuously and vigorously serve the construction of Xi'an's Belt and Road international commercial legal service model zone.

(Keynote speech by Deputy Chief Judge, Zhou Xiang)

In the keynote speech session, Zhou Xiang, Deputy Chief Judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court and judge of the first rank, shared in-depth information on the necessity and significance of building a large protection framework of intellectual property rights from the perspective of building a coordinated intellectual property rights protection system. Deputy Chief Judge Zhou said that the professional functions and respective advantages of litigation and arbitration should be based on the joint promotion of perfecting the diversified dispute mechanism of intellectual property rights, fully and efficiently protecting innovation, and jointly assisting in the development of new quality productivity.

(From left to right, top to bottom: Director, Wang Zhengzhi, Prof. Yang Ming, Prof. Xue Hong, Attorney, Sharenkova, General Counsel, Dang Lei)

The themed speeches session was hosted by Wang Zhengzhi, arbitrator of CIETAC and Director of the IPR Professional Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association with the theme of "Arbitration Guarding the Innovative Development of Digital Industry". Yang Ming, Arbitrator of CIETAC and Executive Vice President of Peking University Intellectual Property Institute, Xue Hong, Arbitrator of CIETAC and Director of Beijing Normal University Internet Policy and Law Research Center, Sharen Gaowa, Partner of Globe-Law Lawyers, and Dang Lei, General Counsel of Shaanxi Cultural Industry Investment Holding Group respectively delivered speeches on "Arbitration Resolving Intellectual Property Disputes in Digital Industry", "Observation on Arbitration Cases of Intellectual Property Investment Agreements in Digital Industry", "Observations on Intellectual Property Disputes in the Game Industry from the Perspective of Copyright Disputes" and "Arbitration is Urgently Needed for the Innovative Development of Digital Culture Industry".

(From left to right: Deputy Secretary-General, Jiang Hongmei; Vice-President, Yao Jianjun; Director, Zheng Hui; Attorney, Huangbin; Director, Ma Kejun)

The Penal Discussion session was held under the theme of "Mediation Helps Harmoniously Resolve Intellectual Property Disputes" and was moderated by Jiang Hongmei, Deputy Secretary General of CIETAC Silk Road Arbitration Center. Yao Jianjun, Vice President of Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, Zheng Hui, Arbitrator of CIETAC and Director of Northwestern University Intellectual Property Protection Center, Ge Huangbin, Arbitrator of CIETAC and Director of LVM Law Chambers LLC, and Ma KeJun, Director of China (Gansu) Intellectual Property Protection Center, discussed the role of mediation in the harmonious, efficient, and comprehensive resolution of intellectual property disputes, and discussed how to promote the development of mediation for intellectual property disputes and further improve the construction of the mechanism of diversified and coordinated protection of intellectual property rights.

The forum was a great success in promoting exchanges, forging consensus and achieving fruitful results.