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(iii) Strengthened adjudication management, and improved upon the supervision and evaluation system to establish a scientific and effective system
An important institutional safeguard for judicial impartiality is the establishing of a management system that aligns accountability with powers, that supervises the use of powers, that misconduct is held accountable, and that violation of the law will be punished, which operates under a strict adjudication management and supervision powers, and which regulates the exercise of discretionary rights to prevent losing the control of powers and deviation from behavioural norms.
In 2013, the people’s courts of all levels have established, improved and implemented systems and mechanisms to ensure adjudication quality and efficiency, and have continued to review and promptly promoted experiences and practices that could help improve adjudication quality and efficiency. Indeed, the quality and efficiency of intellectual property adjudication have evidently improved.
The courts have also tightened management of the adjudication process, tracked and monitor the major processes and major areas in adjudication, and implemented regular reporting of case disposal. They have also improved on the timing of case disposal to ensure that conclusion of cases is evenly distributed throughout the year. These measures have improved the quality of adjudication.
The Shanxi High People’s Courts have implemented online case-handling, such that the entire process of receiving and hearing a case, panel deliberation and announce of decision is regulated, such that every phase in the adjudication process is traceable and evidence-based.
The courts have also:
§ Improved upon the quality of adjudication by organising joint meetings of presiding judges, full bench meetings and expert assessment meetings for difficult and complex cases, so as to ensure quality of adjudication. Quality reviews for are conducted to instil in judges the mindfulness of exquisiteness in quality.
§ Improved the review and evaluation mechanism for case quality, refined the evaluation standards, specified the criteria for determining miscarriage of justice and for accountability and recourse, so as to discover problems in time, correct errors, and prevent any miscarriage of justice.
§ Assessed, reviewed and compared written judgements to improve their quality, and have effectively prevented clerical errors etc., such that written judgements become the vehicle that embody the entire adjudication process, the grounds of judgement, and enablers of social supervision. To encourage better quality writing, SPC has initiated selection activities for 3rd National Excellence in Written Judgements for Intellectual Property Case, and have completed the preliminary selection from 483 written judgements.
IV. Focused on strengthening the basics at the grass-root level, and continued to improve upon the quality of the judicial team
Justice for the people, judicial impartiality and improving judicial credibility, are goals that hinge upon the team of people and whose key lie within the grass-roots. The people’s courts have always attached a high priority to strengthening the intellectual property adjudication team, so that the people would experience equity and justice for every case handled by the judiciary. The team of adjudicators would be proper and professional and armed with the required expertise. Hence, the courts have focused on building the team by adopting a scientific approach, so that the intellectual property adjudication team would be politically firm, professionally sound, with a good attitude and of high integrity.
(i) Strengthened institutional-building
A robust institution is the prerequisite for good intellectual property adjudication. In 2013, the people’s courts have conscientiously carried out the Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, and have continued to step up efforts in establishing specialised adjudication authorities for intellectual property cases, so as to lay a firm foundation for adjudicating intellectual property cases at the basic level.
In Tibet Autonomous Region, the intermediate people’s courts in Linzhi, Shannan, Naqu and Ali have established specialised intellectual property adjudicatory organs. In Fujian Province, the basic courts in Gulou, Siming and Jinjiang have established intellectual property tribunals. In Hubei Province the intermediate people’s couts of Xiangyang, Yichang, Huangshi, Huanggang and Jingmen have established intellectual property tribunals, such that specialised adjudicatory organs would facilitate the professional development of intellectual property adjudication. In Beijing’s Haidian District, the people’s court has set up the first basic court dispatch tribunal focusing mainly on hearing intellectual property cases. This was to lend strength for the establishment of a National Indigenous Innovation Demonstration Zone within Zhongguancun.
At the same time, the people’s courts of all levels have continued to build up their manpower for the adjudication team, as judges who are well-rounded in capabilities were selected to strengthen the intellectual property adjudication team and to ensure that intellectual property adjudication is supported by a strong talent pool.
(ii) Strengthened capacity-building
Under the new circumstances, where intellectual property adjudication has developed rapidly, there is urgent demand for intellectual property judges to improve their judicial skills and standard to serve the people well, ensure equity and justice, as well as to resolve conflicts and disputes and shape public opinion. The people’s courts have always focused their efforts on improving the capabilities of intellectual property judges as an important means to improve judicial protection of intellectual property. The means replied upon include organising training and seminars on specific themes, on-the-job training, exchanges and temporary job postings, observation of hearings, and setting up practice bases for intellectual property protection, so as to continue to step up the intensity and extensiveness of education and training.
§ Strengthened learning of political theory. The people’s courts of different levels have captured the essence of the spirit of the 18th Party Congress and of President Xi Jinping’s series of important discourse to guide intellectual property judges to be steadfast in their beliefs, develop a socialist rule-of-law concept, and nurture and practise the core values of socialism. This would strengthen their self-confidence in their pursuit of socialism, in their theoretical belief and in the system, and would lay a firm foundation for concept of judicial impartiality.
§ Strengthened training of professional skills. SPC continued to use the intellectual property training course provided by the National Judges College as vehicle to organise training for intellectual property judges. It has increased training for judges located in the central and western regions, and have deployed intellectual property judges to conduct touring lectures in the western region.
The Heilongjiang High People’s Court has introduced specialised intellectual property training, and has organised judges’ forum to train expert judges in the field of intellectual property; the Hubei High People’s Court has organised the “Five Ones” capacity-building activity, so as to build a team of intellectually-inclined judges; the Yunnan High People’s Court has held judges’ salons, and has specially organised reviewers from the Patent Review Board of SIPOto conduct touring lectures in intermediate people’s courts that have jurisdiction for adjudicating patent cases; the Zhejiang High People’s Court and the provincial judges’ college have jointly organised training courses on intellectual property adjudication and training courses for key personnel, so as to increase the level of training for adjudicators.
Also, the Chongqing High People’s Court has actively organised exchange activities with tertiary institutions as a way to align resources and fill each other’s needs and lacks and to raise the level of professionalism in adjudication; the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s High People’s Court has organised trainings to hone professional skills in intellectual property adjudication, so as to train judges on the most current issues in intellectual property; the Beijing High People’s Court has explored the “practical training system” (shi xun zhi) as a training model to improve training for younger judges and has laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of intellectual property adjudication. Judge Chen Jinchuan, member of the court’s judicial committee and Chief Judge of the Intellectual Property Tribunal, has been received the “Award of Excellence in Copyright Achievement”
(iii) Strengthened nurturing of judicial attitude
Judicial attitude is the external embodiment of judicial impartiality, which directly concerns the feeling and evaluation of the people toward judicial impartiality.
In 2013, the people’s courts took the opportunity presented in the activity on educating judges on the party’s mass line to incorporate education on nurturing of judicial attitude. Every adjudicator must have the courage to face problems, and to look at themselves critically to discover their flaws and inadequacies. Based on the overall requirement to “l(fā)ook at yourself, tidy yourself, clean yourself and cure yourself”, criticisms and self-criticisms were carried out, such that the most striking problems as reflected by the general public were addressed. Judges have strictly observed the eight-point regulations concerning improving working attitudes and close contact with the masses, as well as the six measures as required by the SPC, so that justice for the people is truly implemented. The courts were stringent in enforcing the proper judicial attitudes and imposed strict disciplines, which have translated into improved awareness of the sense of purpose and sense of responsibility as public servants on the part of the intellectual property adjudicators. This has ensured the adjudication team for intellectual property are advanced in mind-sets and pure in spirit.
(iv) Strengthened judicial integrity
Integrity has always been a key task as part of capacity-building for judges in the people’s courts. In 2013, every level of the people’s courts were working vigorously to fight corruption, and to build a more robust system of integrity risk prevent system by strengthening responsibility in management supervision and stepping up accountability and recourse. By organising centralised education, educating about consequence, and conferences on special themes as democratic living and heart-to-heart discussions, the courts were able to teach and guide intellectual property adjudicators that they should uphold the requirement to be “practical and upright for the people; that they should treasure power, be careful when using power, using their powers well; that they should not be moved by temptations or enticed by distractions; that they should be diligent in initiating judicial inspection and supervision of adjudication operations to tighten administration and plug administration gaps. In doing so, power abuse would be locked away, and the judges would be upright, the courts would be clean, and justice would be fair.