US-China IP Adjudication Conference Facilitates Milestone Bilateral IP Exchanges

On 28-30 May 2012, top Chinese justices and judges, government leaders, experts and enterprises representatives were joined by their US counterparts in Beijing's Renmin University of China for the US-China IP Adjudication Conference. The three-day conference allowed a highest level meet of the largest scale ever in the area of IP adjudication between the two countries, which in combination handle nearly 50 percent of the world’s total patent applications annually.

Hosted by China Law Society, the event attracted over 1,000 attendants, comprising nearly 300 judges from the Chinese judiciary and 7 judges from US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Sponsors of the event included: China Intellectual Property Law Society, Renmin University of China, IPR Tribunal of Supreme People’s Court of the PRC (SPC), Ministry of Commerce of the PRC, State Intellectual Property Office of the PRC (SIPO), US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), and US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Agenda of the conference ran as follows:

28 May 2012

devoted to speeches and discussions on macro issues concerning IP adjudication, covering topics of: development of the IP system, court systems of China and US, the role of the judge, case management in patent litigation, and enforcement of patent judgments;

29 May 2012

discussions extended to micro-level issues in IP adjudication, covering topics of: written description, utility model, validity, and proof of infringement; copyright issues and anti-unfair competition; obviousness, trade secret protection, damages and injunctive relief; trademark right issues and design patent protection;
concurrently held on the same day were three breakout sessions, respectively on: copyright, trademark and pharmaceutical patents;

30 May 2012

the morning session explored further topics of IP adjudication, including: commercialization of IP and contribution of court to the IP system;
mock court trials were conducted in the afternoon, enabling for the first time the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the IPR tribunals of Beijing's high and intermediate people’s courts to adjudicate respectively a real case based on the same sets of fact, so that the audience may have a fast grasp of the difference in judicial practice between the two system.

As Mr. Tian Lipu, Commissioner of SIPO, put it, the conference is important, and is in itself a great progress, for by having leading law practitioners and opinion leaders of the two countries sitting together and spending three days discussing extensive issues, resolution of clashes over IP issues between the two sides are seeing a way out, from blame and complaints toward bilateral dialogues and exchanges.

Distinguished guests delivering keynote speeches after the opening remarks:

Mr. Chen Jiping, Executive Vice President of China Law Society	Mr. David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for IP, Director of US Patent and Trademark Office
Mr. Gary Locke, United States Ambassador to People’s Republic of China Mr. Shen Deyong, Executive Vice President of Supreme People's Court	Mr. Randall R. Rader, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Court Mr. Steven C. Lambert, President, Federal Circuit Bar Association

Mr. Chong Quan, Deputy Representative of International Trade of Ministry of Commerce	Mr. Mark Cohen, Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for IP and Director of United States Patent and Trademark Office
Mr. Tian, Lipu, Commissioner of State Intellectual Property Office	Mr. Chen Yulu, President of Renmin University of China

Judges from United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in conference

The trademark special branch in session