Dispute Mediation From 1 Years To 2 Hours, Guangdong Free Trade Area Intellectual Property Protection "Upgrade"

"I didn't expect to solve the problem so quickly. Some compensation and judicial confirmation have been made. It's very convenient to safeguard rights." The attorney for the United States kingcraft Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "king of gold company") has frequently praised the lawyer.

If an intellectual property dispute involving import and export is placed in the past, it will take more than 1 years to complete administrative and judicial proceedings, and now the same problem can be solved in 2 hours.

What brought about this change is the Nansha Free Trade Zone court's intellectual property dispute mediation center (hereinafter referred to as the "mediation center"), which is the first initiative of the courts and customs to jointly protect intellectual property rights in China.

In the field of intellectual property protection, the Nansha free trade area has creatively solved the time-consuming problem. - Gan Jun

Zhang Zhirong, President of the intellectual property court of the Nansha free trade area, said in an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report reporter that the judicial mediation service can be directly provided to the front-line ports, which can promptly mediate the intellectual property disputes arising from the source, and solve them with the fastest time and the lowest cost.

In fact, this is only a microcosm of the Guangdong free trade pilot zone in the innovation of intellectual property protection system.

According to the twenty-first Century economic report combing reporters, in addition to the Nansha free trade area April 24th set up mediation center, the Shenzhen intellectual property court was also set up at the end of 2017 in the Qianhai free trade area. At the same time, there was also the Hengqin free trade area intellectual property rights rapid rights assistance center.

Experts interviewed said that the internationalization and rule of law business environment has increasingly become the preferred factor to attract enterprises to land. The reason why the Guangdong free trade zone has accelerated the formation of a system to protect intellectual property rights is basically to attract more high-end production elements and formats by optimizing the rule of law environment.

How to shorten from 1 to 2 hours?

In May 21st, Guangzhou Nansha mediation scene, alleged infringement and infringement of the two sides of the acting lawyer is anxiously waiting.

Finally, the intellectual property disputes worth about 115 thousand yuan reached agreement and signed the settlement agreement with the patience and mediation of the judges and the invited mediators.

The origin of the matter came from a sampling inspection of Nansha customs not long ago. Nansha customs found that a number of batteries declared for export to Nigeria were printed with "DURACELL" trademark logo, suspected of infringing the relevant intellectual property rights of King's company. The customs immediately issued a notice of confirmation of intellectual property rights to the obligee.

In fact, such infringement is common in Nansha customs. During the period from 2012 to October 2017, the inspection department of the Nansha customs bonded port area investigated 212 cases of infringement of intellectual property rights, involving more than 90 brands such as Nike, CK and so on, with a value of about 4179.3 yuan.

To this end, the Nansha people's Court of the Guangdong free trade area set up a mediation center for intellectual property disputes at the customs, which can mediate disputes at the customs and obtain judicial confirmation. After balancing litigation costs, the obligee decides to resolve disputes through mediation centers.

Li Qishou, a specially invited mediator from the "one way and one" international commercial mediation center, told the twenty-first Century business reporter that the most obvious advantage of the "mediation center" is fast. The mediation process takes only 2 hours. After the intervention of the judicial power from the source of contradiction, the accused is earlier responsible for investigating and handling the responsibilities and expenses that should be borne in the tort link. After the legal document is made, the right holder can also receive compensation in time.

Zhang Zhirong also told the twenty-first Century economic news reporters that the cost of safeguarding the rights of enterprises has been greatly reduced by resolving disputes in mediation centers. In the past, the administrative and judicial procedures for the import and export intellectual property disputes should be completed for at least one year, and the obligee should also pay for the storage of the infringing goods. The longer the time, the higher the cost. With mediation centers, disputes can be immediately mediated, and the parties are more likely to reach a settlement without paying any litigation costs.

In addition to reducing processing time from 1 years to 2 hours, the key to mediation centers is to greatly enhance the legalization of business environment in the FTA.

Liu Guohong, director of the Institute of Finance and modern industry, China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, told reporters on twenty-first Century economic report that many port businesses come from the international market, and that docking with international customers first needs to adapt to the international paradigm rules. For a long time, foreign enterprises and mainland enterprises involved in patent infringement cases. First, the decision was long, and the two was light punishment, which led foreign enterprises to view the low cost of illegal intellectual property in our country.

"The" Filing "has become" mediating ". The innovation of Nansha has solved the problem of long time consuming, and enterprises will naturally feel a sense of the optimization of the business environment of the FTA. Liu Guohong said.

Li Sheng, vice president of the Nansha Free Trade Zone, told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that both the early provision of Judicial Services in the customs section, or the invitation of special mediators to participate in dispute resolution, are aimed at enhancing the level of intellectual property protection in the free trade area, strengthening the construction of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism, and constantly optimizing the business environment of the free trade area.

From the most stringent protection to the fastest solution

In the protection of intellectual property rights, the Nansha free trade area has creatively solved the time-consuming problem, and the Qianhai free trade area has already started to solve the problem of "low illegal cost" as early as the end of 2017.

On the morning of December 26, 2017, the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Tribunal was set up in Qianhai to handle intellectual property cases under the jurisdiction of Shenzhen intermediate people's court. An important background of the court's establishment is that the intellectual property cases in Shenzhen are characterized by large base and fast growth.

Data show that in 2016, the court of first instance of Shenzhen City concluded 14887 cases of intellectual property rights, an increase of 63.2% over the previous year, accounting for 1/2 of Guangdong and 1/10 of the country's total.

In this regard, Zou Wen, senior consultant of angel law firm, feels deeply. Before entering the law firm, she served as a judge in the intellectual property court of the intermediate people's Court of Shenzhen and served in the central hospital for 11 years.

"Shenzhen was originally built to protect the highlands of knowledge and production, and there are many high-tech enterprises. Therefore, the intellectual property court of Shenzhen itself is an important guarantee for building intellectual property protection highlands from the nature of its jurisdiction to the level of referee." Zou Wen told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter.

Wang Xiaodan, head of intellectual property division of Dajiang, also said in an interview with the media that the demand for intellectual property protection by innovative companies is particularly urgent. The general intellectual property infringement litigation process takes more than 1 years, but even if a favorable judgement is obtained, the best time to protect is likely to be missed.

In Zou Wen's view, the establishment of the Shenzhen intellectual property court in the Qianhai free trade area is a positive recognition of Qianhai's role in the future intellectual property protection.

"Although the court is located in Qianhai, it is still in the case of intellectual property rights in all the cities of Shenzhen. The main focus is on patents, integrated circuit layout design, well-known trademarks, technical secrets, software copyright, monopoly and other cases." Zou Wen said.

From the most stringent protection to the fastest solution, the Guangdong FTA's innovative exploration has accelerated the formation of an intellectual property protection system.

In December 2018, Shenzhen promulgated the "Intellectual Property Protection Ordinance" of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which is known as "the most stringent protection of intellectual property rights", which was formally implemented in March 1st this year.

In twenty-first Century, the economic news reporter noted that the regulations specifically defined the "intellectual property protection demonstration zone" in Qianhai Shekou self trade area, and its exploration results can be popularized in Shenzhen city when conditions are ripe. The regulations also set up a number of operable "multiple penalty" provisions for the illegal operation of intellectual property infringement, and the illegal cost of infringing intellectual property rights will be greatly increased.

"Innovation and exploration such as the most stringent protection of intellectual property rights and other free trade zones are actually drawn from Hongkong. The aim is to create an international legal environment for docking international and Hong Kong and Macao." Liu Guohong said.