The symposium on China-EU judicial protection of intellectual property (IP) rights was held at Tongji University in Shanghai on May 30. The event was hosted by the university and Shanghai High People’s Court under the guidance of the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

Tao Kaiyuan, vice-president of the SPC; Jia Yu, president of the Shanghai High People’s Court; and Zheng Qinghua, secretary of the Communist Party of China Committee of Tongji University, attended the symposium and delivered remarks.

Tao emphasized the far-reaching significance of the symposium in the context of rapid technological advancement and global IP landscape, noting that China and the European Union have made steady and productive progress in IP-related judicial cooperation in recent years.

The SPC attaches great importance to China-EU IP collaboration and has actively advanced joint initiatives such as the compilation of representative IP cases. She recognized courts in Shanghai as a key platform for international judicial exchange, particularly in addressing emerging issues in IP cases through proactive exploration, according to Tao.

She also underscored the vital role of IP protection in promoting scientific and technological innovation, encouraging deeper research into the boundaries and legal frameworks of IP rights to unleash innovation potential and drive technological and economic development. 

She emphasized that judicial protection of IP rights should serve key functions such as incentivizing creativity, safeguarding fair competition, fostering economic development, cultural prosperity and opening-up. She also stressed the importance of balancing legal remedy with technology toleration to better enhance public well-being. 

Tao also stressed that deepening China-EU IP cooperation is vital to advancing global IP governance. She expressed the hope that such cooperation would serve as a foundation for broader international collaboration, injecting sustained momentum into global innovation.

The symposium brought together more than 70 participants, including judges from the SPC and the high people’s courts of Beijing, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Guangdong. Representatives from the Federal Court of Justice of Germany, the Unified Patent Court of the European Union, and legal academic institutions also attended the event.