Use of administrative adjudication to settle IPR cases becoming a national trendThe number of China's administrative adjudication cases on patent infringement disputes has showed an upward trend in the past few years.

Data released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration show that from 2019 to 21, the number of patent infringement disputes through administrative adjudication increased by some 16.3 percent year-on-year.

Administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes is one of the important methods of patent administrative protection.

In recent years, the administrative adjudication system has been strengthened at the national level and started taking root in the protection of intellectual property rights across China.

The mechanism refers to the provision of extended services for adjudication where the petitioners could improve their IPR measures and reduce the risk of being infringed and the respondents can improve their awareness of IPR and avoid repeated infringements.

Cheng Xiezhong, a professor at the School of Law of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the main function of administrative adjudication is to resolve civil disputes closely related to administrative management activities.

"How to improve the efficiency of IPR protection is a challenge faced by the administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes," Cheng said.

The GIPA is promoting the Guangdong Patent Agency Association to establish an IP dispute mediation center and an IP rights protection assistance center to provide auxiliary services for administrative adjudication.

During the on-site inspection and trial of a case, the patent administrative adjudication department will invite patent examiners and other technical investigation experts to give professional opinions and assist in handling technical issues.

In addition, other provinces including Jiangsu, Hubei, and Zhejiang are building an online case-handling system for administrative adjudication, and to strengthen the data set of the work system.

For instance, the Hubei Intellectual Property Office developed a unified Hubei Province Administrative Adjudication System for Patent Infringement Disputes.

Liu Guixiang, a member of the Adjudication Committee with the Supreme People's Court, told media on Friday that courts nationwide have helped more than 30 private enterprises with debts of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) complete restructuring through judicial measures by the end of last year, to help them get rid of debt and turn losses into profits.

However, the political agreement achieved on December 30 last year is only a first step, since some important aspects – like the protection of foreign investment and the adjudication of disputes – are still being negotiated.

"I think an underlying theme for this cooperation is the importance of having fair adjudication of disputes in the courts.

On the protection front, enforcement officials handled more than 42,000 patent infringement disputes through administrative adjudication last year.

When China announced anti-dumping measures on Australia's barley exports in May, the spokesman said that the investigation and adjudication involved was all in accordance with Chinese laws.

A total of 13,800 cases of administrative adjudication on patent infringement disputes were filed nationwide between January and June, during which 107.4 billion yuan ($16.6 billion) was raised through the pledge financing of patents and trademarks.

Themed "Financial Adjudication and Investor Protection In A Better Law-Based Business Environment", the forum was jointly hosted by the Shanghai Financial Court and the China Academy of Financial Research affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Under the guidelines, the administrations set up an adjudication board to resolve patent disputes involving drugs in their early stages of development, he said.

It originated as a way of expressing good wishes for newlyweds, but Chen Yifang, chief judge of the top court's No 1 Civil Adjudication Tribunal, said that in recent years "it has developed into a face-saving activity that can place a big financial burden on families".

The United Nations Environment Programme has set up a section on Chinese environmental adjudication on its website, mainly featuring the annual report on China's environmental and resource adjudication and judicial precedents released by the SPC, providing a Chinese solution and judicial reference for international environmental governance.

Zhang said that people's courts will actively respond to people's ever-growing needs for a better life, and further serve Chinese modernization by modernizing the adjudication of environmental and resource cases to implement the concept of harmony between humanity and nature into specific adjudicative work.

Gao Xiaoli, chief judge of the top court's No 4 Civil Adjudication Tribunal, highlighted the importance of finding the right foreign laws to handle international commercial cases and said that formulating a judicial interpretation to deal with such matters shows respect for the litigants, both from China and abroad, which will help strongly protect international transactions.

To scale up the protection of the rights and interests of foreign-invested enterprises, the government pledged crackdowns on those who disseminate false and harmful information against foreign businesses online, as well as efforts to improve the administrative adjudication system for patent infringement disputes.

Liu Guixiang, a member of the adjudication committee of the Supreme People's Court, said that during the execution of cases involving companies, the court will guarantee that the successful party realizes their rights in a timely manner, while minimizing impact on normal operations.

The interpretation has made the clarification, "because we've found some criminals cheat juveniles online and sexually assault them in person, or even spread their naked or assaulted videos or pictures through the internet", He Li, chief judge of the top court's No 1 Criminal Adjudication Tribunal, told a news conference on Thursday.

It will also help Hong Kong residents facing legal problems to choose lawyers properly and the SAR to exercise its independent judicial and final adjudication powers.