Top court boosts protection for private sector innovators

The Supreme People's Court, China's top court, issued a guideline on Friday, requiring all courts to strengthen their protection for innovators in the private sector.

The 25-article guideline, aimed at implementing the Private Sector Promotion Law, emphasizes equal protection for various economic entities participating in market competition, and calls for improvements in the quality of handling high-tech intellectual property cases and providing strong judicial support for key sectors and core technologies.

The guideline reveals that China will draft rules for handling disputes over data rights to promote the efficient circulation and transaction of data elements. It also urges Chinese courts to play their role in guiding the healthy and orderly development of the artificial intelligence industry.

The Private Sector Promotion Law, which has been in effect since May 20, is the country's first fundamental law in this field, marking a milestone in bolstering the growth of the private economy and boosting the confidence of entrepreneurs.

While ordering courts nationwide to strictly enforce the law by better handling cases related to emerging businesses and new technologies, the guideline also mandates them to combat corruption within private companies with the same level of severity as graft within State-owned enterprises.

Furthermore, actions that undermine fair competition and disrupt market order should be addressed in a timely manner, the guideline said, calling on judges to focus more on the issue of overdue payments to private economic entities.