Internationally, Alternative Dispute Resolution (abbreviated “ADR”) has been widely used in the field of intellectual property, resulting in a diversified dispute resolution mechanism that harmonizes with civil litigation. Based on the requirements of the State Intellectual Property Office, the Shanghai Municipal Intellectual Property Office began the two-year IP Dispute Mediation Pilot Project in June 2014.

On the morning of November 26^th, 2015, the Division Chief of the Shanghai Bureau of Justice Zhongqiang Shang; the Division Chiefs of the Shanghai IP Rights Coordination and Management Office (the Shanghai IP Rights Joint Conference Office) Yuanzhong Kong, Chengfang Wu and Hanping Xu; and experts from the Xuhui District IP Dispute Mediation Committee and the Yangpu District IP Right Dispute Mediation Committee convened a special pilot project session at Watson & Band to discuss the Rules on People’s Mediation for IP Rights (Draft for Discussion) (hereinafter the “Draft Rules”) that were drafted by Watson & Band. Watson & Band’s Managing Partner George Fu, Partner Cathy Wu and associates Shan Zhong and Yiwen Jin attended the session.

At the session, Mr. Shang emphasized that the mechanism design of the Draft Rules should adhere to the basic principles of mutual voluntariness and procedural convenience, so as to exploit the special advantages of mediation over litigation and arbitration. Mr. Shang also shared his profound understanding and commentary on the revision; namely, the issues of how to specify the scope of application of the Draft Rules, the meaning of procedural convenience, and the connection between litigation and mediation. These issues aroused heated discussions and commentary among all of the attendees.

Mr. Kong highly appraised the Draft Rules and other related work that Watson & Band has contributed so far. He also provided opinions and suggestions on improvement based on his own work experience and the special features of IP right disputes, the nature of mediation activities, and the actual status of the IP rights mediation work in Shanghai.

Managing Partner George Fu and other attending attorneys reported and interpreted thoughts on the drafting process based on Watson & Band’s twenty years of practice in IPs right cases, and he provided answers to comments on the Draft Rules posed by the directors and the experts. The experts from the district IP Rights Dispute Mediation Committees spoke with Watson & Band’s attorneys about the circumstances they actually encountered in mediation practice.

The creation of the Draft Rules is one of the most significant projects for the IP rights dispute People’s Mediation pilot work in Shanghai. Combining the experience of W&B, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Intellectual Property Office and the District IP Dispute Mediation Committees, the special session was a seminar on the legal system, applicable national policy and relevant municipal practices, designed to ensure that the Draft Rules both harmonize with the existing legal system and apply to real-life situations.