On the afternoon of August 17, Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) Best Practices/Enforcement Committee (BPEC) Vice Chair Peter Yang and representatives of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. visited Shanghai Pudong People's Court and presented Top Ten Cases Appreciation Plaque. Wu Zhiyong, Chief Judge of the IP Tribunal, Ni Hongxia, Deputy Chief Judge, and Wang Xiao, Judge, warmly received the delegation of QBPC.
First of all, Chief Judge Wu and Deputy Chief Judge Ni extended welcome and introduced the IP trial of the Court. Since 2021, the IP Tribunal had taken various measures to enhance the IP protection under the background of strong protection of IP, such as promoting application of punitive damages in as many as 12 cases, including the first case of applying punitive damages according to the base and multiple agreed by the parties, the docking between the Court and World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Shanghai Service, the upgrading from "litigation and mediation" cooperation to "litigation, mediation and enforcement" cooperation mode, and highlighting the significance of industrial interaction and court-enterprise interaction in improving the high-level judicial protection of IP, as well as how the Court could timely study the new developments and new treaties emerging in the international community to more effectively keep in line with international practice. The two sides also conducted in-depth and detailed discussion and exchanges on the above issues.
Meanwhile, BPEC Vice Chair Peter Yang introduced the organizational structure and characteristics of QBPC. According to him, the Annual Top Ten Cases Selection, as a star project of QBPC, had been held for 21 times. The selected cases were all highly representative, reflecting the hot and difficult issues of IPR, and well acknowledged by the judicial and law enforcement authorities at central and local levels. The number of candidate cases was as high as 74 this year, which was the most competitive in the history. The case of "Combined efforts of administrative and criminal raid against a ‘KIWI’ trademark infringement gang in Anhui Province", handled by Shanghai Pudong People's Court, was finally selected as one of the QBPC 2021-2022 Annual Top Ten Cases. Thus QBPC expressed its gratitude to the Court for its efforts in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and enterprises.
After that, representatives of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. introduced the main brands and products, and shared the status of IPR protection of the company. Based on their experience with the selected case and other cases handled by Shanghai Pudong People's Court in the past, right holders felt the equal protection on Chinese and foreign parties by the Court, its professionalism and legal knowledge as well as the positive and open mind towards frontier issues, which provided Pudong-based enterprises with confidence and a sense of security. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. representatives also took this opportunity to express their gratitude to the Court and QBPC on behalf of the management and legal department of the company in China and headquarter. They looked forward to further cooperation in the future to jointly create an era of strong protection of IPR.
Finally, QBPC delegation presented Top Ten Cases Appreciation Plaque to Shanghai Pudong People's Court and looked forward to more exchanges and closer cooperation between the two sides in the future.