Lawsuits on intellectual property rights in this top industrial center of China have been on the rise since the city established a court for this purpose in 1994.
Lu Guoqiang, chief judge of the Court on Intellectual Property Rights under the Shanghai Higher People's Court, said November 14 in Shanghai that since 1994, the court has handled more than 17,000 cases, reaching 16,000 verdicts. The number of cases handled this year is up more than 30 percent on 1994.
Most of the cases relate to the rights of brands, literature works, computer soft-ware and patents, he said, adding that disputes on the rights of on-line works and domain protection are also rising with the rapid development of the Internet economy.
Lu said that his court will increase transparency in the court proceedings and will publish selected cases on-line.
(People's Daily 11/15/2000)
