WIPO Judicial Institute Collaborates with Supreme People’s Court of China for Successful International Judicial Symposium on Intellectual Property

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Judicial Institute and the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China successfully organized the International Judicial Symposium on Intellectual Property (IP) on May 29 and 30, 2024.  Held in Hangzhou, China, the event underscored the importance of transnational judicial dialogue in the evolving IP adjudication landscape.

The International Judicial Symposium benefitted from the contributions and expertise of an eminent group of speakers from China and around the world.  International speakers included judges and experts from Australia, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the Unified Patent Court, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.  Speakers explored a program of highly relevant topics in IP adjudication, with particular focus on issues of data and IP, adjudicating trade secrets, and specialized IP courts.  

Senior members of the Chinese judiciary, including Tao Kaiyuan, Vice President of the SPC, addressed Symposium participants.  Participants also visited the innovative Hangzhou Internet Court – China’s first Internet Court – which hears Internet-related cases, including copyright and domain name disputes.

The organization of the International Judicial Symposium in Hangzhou reflected China’s innovation in modernizing its IP system, including its judicial administration of IP disputes.  From 2014, China has seen the establishment of IP Courts in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.  The 2019 establishment of an IP Court within the SPC provides a national-level appeals mechanism for IP cases.  The Symposium program was privileged to feature judges from a number of these IP Courts, whose insights proved especially valuable as courts in many countries work to align their procedures with the specificities of IP disputes.   

The International Judicial Symposium forms part of WIPO’s work to support judiciaries in their vital role of ensuring that IP, innovation, and creative ecosystems are balanced and effective.  The Symposium also represents an exciting collaboration undertaken in fulfillment of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between WIPO and the SPC in April 2023.  Both the MoU and the Symposium serve as a testament to the longstanding collaboration and friendship between the SPC and WIPO.