SPC Study Visit on Court Organisation, Management and Efficiency

China and most EU member states are countries of civil law system therefore they share commonalities to a large degree in their intellectual property legislation and judicial adjudication practices.  IP Key project is organising a study visit on court organisation, management and efficiency. 10 Chinese judges will visit three EU member states (Germany, France and Italy) from 20-29 June, 2016.  The Chinese delegation is composed of judges from the SPC, Beijing IP Court, Shanghai IP Court, Guangzhou IP Court and two provincial high courts.

Judges will mainly exchange experiences and opinions with regards to the processes and solutions which courts progressively develop to deal efficiently with a growing number of IP cases, including but not limited to:

·         Composition of panels

·         Technical support team and assistance (services, composition, role(s) of individuals)

·         Organization of procedural steps

·         Treatment of inputs from parties

·         Timelines (deadlines) in file treatment

·         Communication:

o   Flows: within panel, to assistance services, within court, with the parties)

o   Format: paper, e-communication

·         Databases and electronic documents, how they impact the overall efficiency (quality, timeliness) of court procedures

·         IT tools: electronic process (workflow, actual e-procedure) of court procedures

·         Experts intervention (selection, services provision requests, timespan, expertise provision formalities, communication with experts and parties, …)

·         Communication and dissemination of court decision: organization of flow, timeliness, accessibility, (number of decisions, incl. level of data detail, consultation)

·         Organisation of court

·         Management: workload, productivity, assessment, impact