On July 4, 2007, Mr. Wan E’xiang, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, stressed at the conference of presidents of high courts nationwide that people's courts at various levels should handle properly the intellectual property cases involving foreign parties and the three types of foreign-funded enterprises. In line with the principles of abiding by the promise, adapting to national conditions and protecting on equal basis, the legal interest of the involved parties and related parties both domestic and abroad shall be safeguarded according to the laws.
He also made clear the principle that, while local protectionism and professional protectionism shall be resisted resolvedly, the super-national treatment shall also be avoided. According to Mr. Wan E’xiang, the courts at various levels should properly handle technical IP cases involving patent, technical secret, computer software, and strengthen protection on key technology with significant driving force to the economic growth or with independent intellectual property; cases relating symbolic IP rights, such as trade marks and geographical indications, and unfair competition cases should be judged properly in order to standardize the order of market competition; and cases relating to expressive IP rights such as literary or artistic works and audio or video recordings shall be well treated in order to promote healthy development of copyright industry.
