Beijing's local courts are speeding up their efforts to handle foreign-related intellectual property rights (IPR) cases.

"The five intellectual property tribunals in Beijing will be fully prepared to meet the challenges led by China's entry into the World Trade Organization," vowed Cheng Yongshun, deputy presiding judge from the IPR division of Beijing's High People's Court, in a recent report. Cheng is one of Beijing's 50 judges who specialize in IPR cases.

Beijing's High People's Court, two intermediate people's courts and two grass-roots courts in the Haidian and Chaoyang districts, have special IPR divisions.

The local courts accepted 35 foreign-related IPR cases in 2000, setting a new record, Cheng said.

Judges from Beijing's IPR tribunals are planning to gather later this month for a four-day workshop on international IPR standards and legal interpretations. The conference is an effort to solve the legal problems rising from the IPR cases.

Almost half of the 50 IPR judges have been sent abroad to receive training and communicate with their foreign counterparts. More judges are expected to go to Germany and France next month for a three-month training course.

Foreign IPR cases are becoming more common. One pending now pits a retired university teacher and a Dalian-based technology company against several major mobile phone producers including Motorola, Ericsson and Alcatel in a dispute over infringement of patent rights. No judgment has been rendered.

For instance, Alcatel Suzhou Telecommunications Co., Ltd. was sued for having applied an input method, which is under the patent protection, on Alcatel OT500 and OT700 mobile phones, without permission by the plaintiffs.

The case is complicated and there had been no decision by the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court after the second hearing concluded last week.

"More Chinese companies and individuals are starting to act as plaintiffs in foreign-related IPR cases and ask for legal protection instead of always being the defendants," Cheng said.

Cheng also stressed that foreign-related IPR cases now encompass everything from software piracy to patent infringement cases.

Beijing's courts settled 734 IPR cases in 2000, 15.3 percent of the nationwide total. The amount in the first quarter reached 212, up 283 percent from the same period last year.

(China Daily 05/28/2001)