Technicians appointed to advise on IP cases

A total of 115 technicians were appointed as investigators by Beijing Intellectual Property Court on Wednesday to help solve technical cases.

With the fast development of technology, the court has seen rapidly growing IP technical disputes over the past few years.

"Hearing technical cases has become a major part of our job," said Zhou Liting, deputy head of the court's technical investigation department.

She revealed that since the court was established in November 2014, it has solved 23,000 technical cases, of which about 20,000 have been concluded.

The cases covered many sectors involving high-tech, such as communications, medicine, biology, chemistry, materials and computers, she said, adding "Finding a better solution to the cases very much relates to the development of the involved enterprises and industries".

Considering the complexity of technology, a judicial interpretation by the Supreme People's Court, China's top court, issued at the end of 2014 allowed courts to find technical investigators to help with cases, clarifying that the appointment period ranges from one to three years.

The court set up the technical investigation department in October 2015, Zhou said, noting that 183 technicians had served the court in 3,281 cases.

Compared with the previous appointments, the number of investigators this time has increased, "and technicians focusing on pharmaceuticals and telecoms have been added in particular this time", she added.

The average age of the new technical investigators is 41 and each has been engaged in technical industries for an average of 15 years, with a significant rise of those working for colleges, hospitals and technical academies, according to her.

Zhang Hui, a biomedical technician, was reappointed on Wednesday.

Before the appointment, he had provided technical support in more than 50 cases. He expressed his pride at being a technical investigator, "as the job is to stand with judges to give stronger judicial protection of IP rights", he said.

Recalling his work in previous cases, he added, "I grew up quickly after being urged to follow the latest technologies and innovations in my field, and my communication skills and the understanding of technologies have also been improved by interpreting obscure technical terms to judges."

To guarantee the objectivity of case handling, all technical investigators, including the latest appointments, must not meet litigants involved in disputes nor provide fake technical reports.