On January 2 2018 the Supreme People's Court promulgated the Circular on Creating a Favourable Legal Landscape to Facilitate Innovation and the Start-Up of Entrepreneurs by Leveraging the Adjudicatory Function of the Court, in a bid to reassure the business sector.

The circular advocates for:

  • the protection of:
    • entrepreneurs' personal freedom and property rights;
    • the legitimate rights of honest entrepreneurs;
    • entrepreneurs' IP rights; and
    • entrepreneurs' autonomy in management;
  • the execution of favourable judgments awarded to entrepreneurs;
  • the correction of injustices against entrepreneurs;
  • the establishment of stable jurisprudence on the protection of entrepreneurs' legitimate rights; and
  • raising legal awareness of entrepreneurs.

With respect to the protection of IP rights, the court has vowed to:

  • improve the rule of evidence to ensure that it applies to IP rights litigation, so as to facilitate the evidence adduced by rights holders;
  • promote the 'three-in-one' system to ensure that all types of IP case (civil, administrative or criminal) are handled by one single division of the court at all levels (first instance and appeal), so as to enhance the efficacy of IP rights protection;
  • establish a judicial assessment mechanism for damages to ensure that they:
    • are assessed by taking into account the market value of the IP rights involved; and
    • are granted for the primary purpose of compensating rights holders, followed by the objectives of punishing infringers and increasing compensation for infringement;
  • explore the possibility of establishing a punitive damages system to balance low infringement costs against the high expense of IP rights enforcement; and
  • protect the trade secrets and other legitimate rights of employers while attaching equal importance to safeguarding employees' rights and promoting business growth.

For further information on this topic please contact Nan Jiang or Huimin Qin at Wanhuida Peksung by telephone (+86 10 6892 1000) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The Wanhuida Peksung website can be accessed at www.wanhuida.com and www.peksung.com.

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