Shanghai promotes judicial confirmation system of administrative mediation agreement

After nearly a year, the staff of the Intellectual Property Protection Office of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office still clearly remember every detail of the administrative mediation case of a design patent dispute they presided over last year, because the mediation agreement signed by both parties in the case, It is the first judicial confirmed administrative mediation agreement on intellectual property disputes in China after the introduction of "opinions on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights" (hereinafter referred to as "opinions on protection").

After the general office of the CPC Central Committee and the general office of the State Council printed and issued the "protection opinions", Shanghai paid close attention to its implementation. In April 2020, Shanghai issued the "implementation plan on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights" (hereinafter referred to as the "implementation plan"), which clearly stated in the "measures for strengthening the enforcement of cases" that "a sound judicial confirmation mechanism for the mediation agreement of intellectual property disputes should be established"“ In order to further strengthen the organic connection between the administrative protection and judicial protection of intellectual property rights, and enhance the form certainty and enforcement of administrative mediation agreements on intellectual property disputes through the judicial confirmation mechanism, Shanghai Intellectual Property Office has vigorously promoted the judicial confirmation system of administrative mediation agreements on patent infringement, which has not only successfully handled the above cases, It has a strong reference significance for the resolution of intellectual property disputes in the future, and in collaboration with the Shanghai court, it promotes the judicial confirmation system of administrative mediation agreement, forming a working mode that can be copied and popularized. " Rui Wenbiao, director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, said.

Effectively safeguard the rights and interests of the parties

In May 2020, a furniture company in Xinjiang found that a number of products promised to be sold by a furniture company in Shanghai were suspected of infringing its five design patents, so it submitted an administrative ruling to the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office. After the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office accepted the case, it immediately formed a collegiate panel to hear it, and organized the parties to exchange evidence and cross examine it.

During the oral hearing of the case, both parties expressed their willingness to accept mediation, and then the collegial panel organized mediation on the basis of finding out the facts. However, at the beginning of the mediation work, the amount of compensation proposed by the two sides was quite different. Because a furniture company in Shanghai was suspected of infringing five products, and in the oral examination, the obligee still found that the other party had promised to sell online, so the obligee insisted on making compensation at the price of 50000 yuan per product. Under the repeated communication and coordination of the collegiate panel, on September 29 of the same year, the two parties reached a package of mediation agreement for five infringement disputes caused by five design patents involved in the case, and signed the administrative mediation agreement for patent infringement disputes. A furniture company in Shanghai made a one-time compensation of 75000 yuan to a furniture company in Xinjiang, and promised not to infringe the other party's patent rights.

On October 20, 2020, both parties applied to Shanghai Intellectual Property Court for judicial confirmation of the agreement. The case court of Shanghai Intellectual Property Court immediately put the case on file. The judges of the quick adjudication team of the trial court strictly reviewed the application materials submitted by the parties and the form and content of the mediation agreement according to law, and accelerated the trial process of the case. The civil ruling was issued on the same day after the review. The ruling not only confirms the validity of the mediation agreement reached by both parties, but also makes it clear that the parties should consciously perform their obligations in accordance with the mediation agreement. If one party refuses to perform or fails to perform in full, the other party can apply to the people's court for compulsory execution.

"This case is the first judicial confirmation of the administrative mediation agreement on intellectual property disputes in China after the promulgation of the protection opinions, and it is also a practical measure to implement the protection opinions and the Shanghai implementation plan on" establishing and improving the judicial confirmation mechanism for the mediation agreement on intellectual property disputes. ", As well as the implementation of the important achievements of the memorandum of the Yangtze River Delta Regional People's court and the Intellectual Property Office on promoting the protection of intellectual property rights in the integration of scientific and technological innovation in the Yangtze River Delta. " Rui Wenbiao.

It has multiple positive meanings

According to China's patent law and other relevant provisions, administrative departments can only determine the amount of compensation through mediation in the process of dealing with patent disputes. If mediation fails, the parties shall bring a lawsuit to the people's court. However, in practice, there are still many problems in the administrative mediation of patent disputes, such as the parties are unwilling to mediate, and even one of the parties reneges and refuses to implement the agreement. The main reason is that the patent administrative organ has no enforcement power on the administrative mediation agreement, and the parties can only bring civil disputes to the court.

Under the above circumstances, the effectiveness of the administrative mediation agreement is almost the same as that of the non-governmental agreement, which will not only greatly waste administrative resources, but also damage the credibility of the administrative organs. The establishment of the judicial confirmation system of administrative mediation agreement for patent disputes solves the above problems. If one party refuses to perform or fails to perform in full, the other party can apply to the people's court for compulsory execution, which greatly strengthens the enforcement effect of administrative mediation agreement and provides more protection for both parties“ With the establishment and promotion of the judicial confirmation system of the administrative mediation agreement, on the one hand, it can give full play to the advantages of high efficiency and low cost of the administrative procedure, so that the parties are free from lengthy judicial proceedings; on the other hand, it can solve the legal protection problem of the mediation agreement by giving the mediation agreement the force of enforcement and Issuing the judicial confirmation ruling by the court. It is believed that more and more parties are willing to settle patent infringement disputes through administrative means, so as to give full play to the function of administrative adjudication in settling disputes and stopping disputes. " Zeng Qian, deputy director of the intellectual property protection department of Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, introduced.

After the "protection opinions" was issued, Shanghai soon formulated the "implementation plan", and clearly established and improved the judicial confirmation mechanism of intellectual property dispute mediation agreement in strengthening the case enforcement measures, so as to extend the depth of intellectual property administrative protection“ Subsequently, Shanghai launched pilot demonstration cases, unblocked the judicial confirmation channel of administrative mediation, and promoted the judicial confirmation system of administrative mediation agreement for patent infringement disputes throughout the city. " According to Zeng Qian, practice shows that the establishment of the judicial confirmation system of intellectual property administrative mediation agreement extends the depth of intellectual property administrative protection, greatly improves the protection efficiency, strengthens the organic connection between administrative protection and judicial protection, and opens up a new way to solve intellectual property disputes efficiently, conveniently and fairly It is of positive significance to improve the diversified settlement mechanism of intellectual property disputes.

As for the establishment of the judicial confirmation system of the administrative mediation agreement of intellectual property rights, fan Jingbo, senior judge at the fourth level of the second division of the comprehensive trial of intellectual property rights of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, said that with the increase in the number of patent cases in the court and the generally long trial period of the cases, the judicial confirmation system of the administrative mediation agreement of patent disputes can effectively reduce the pressure on the judicial organs to conclude the cases, Improving the efficiency of case adjudication is also conducive to reducing the burden of litigants“ In order to put forward the judicial confirmation of the administrative mediation agreement of intellectual property rights, the parties need to submit the mediation statement confirmed by the administrative organ and approved by both parties to the case filing Department of the court. After the preliminary examination by the case filing department, the qualified cases will be filed and transferred to the judicial department. After examination and deliberation, the judicial department shall issue a judicial confirmation if it meets the conditions for judicial confirmation. " Fan Jingbo said（ Jiang Xu (China Intellectual Property News)

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