The National Symposium on Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Adjudication convened at the National Judges College in Beijing on Nov 17, during which the National Training Program on Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Adjudication for Courts Nationwide was also held.

Tao Kaiyuan, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), attended the event and delivered the opening lecture on opportunities, challenges, and responses in judicial protection of intellectual property in the context of scientific and technological innovation.

Tao noted that the fourth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee has set out strategic plans to advance high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement and to accelerate the development of the legal framework and capacity for foreign-related matters. These directives place new and higher requirements for judicial protection of intellectual property, she said. 

She called for efforts to fully implement the guiding principles of the plenum, enhance the adjudication of foreign-related intellectual property cases, and strengthen professional capacity-building.

In her lecture, Tao elaborated on the policy foundation for scientific and technological innovation and intellectual property protection, the responsibilities and challenges facing judicial protection of intellectual property, and practical approaches to improving judicial protection in this area. 

She emphasized the importance of ensuring fairness, consistency, and authority in intellectual property adjudication, and highlighted the judiciary’s role in supporting the development of new quality productive forces and contributing to overall national development.

Deputies to the National People’s Congress, as well as officials from relevant central departments and agencies, attended the event. More than 100 participants took part in the symposium and training program, including officials from departments of the SPC, those responsible for intellectual property adjudication at provincial-level high people’s courts, representatives from intellectual property courts and tribunals, and specialists in foreign-related intellectual property adjudication.