2018 International Forum on Intellectual Property and Competition Law was Successfully Held in Shanghai Jiao Tong University
By Liu Shujun, China IP
On November 1, 2018, the "Forum on Intellectual Property and Competition Law - International Conference on Law and Policy on Digital Governance" was held in KoGuan School of Law, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Almost 300 major experts and academics at home and abroad from the judicial judgment, policy regulation, academic and industrial circles came together to raise a brain storming with the focus on "digital governance on law and policy".
Main Forum: Digital Age, Strengthen the IP Protection
After entering the digital age, on the one hand, the rapid development of high technologies such as big data, blockchain, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc. brings great convenience to the public administration and civil life, on the other hand, it also proposes many challenges to the formulation, supervision and judicial application of policies and laws, thus it is urgent to define the relevant policy and legal provisions to realize the further development of the high-tech industry.
The opening ceremony of the forum was chaired by Wang Houji, Secretary of the Party Committee of KoGuan School of Law, SJTU. During the opening speech, chair Prof. Kong Xiangjun, president of KoGuan School of Law, SJTU and Intellectual Property and Competition Law Academy , SJTU stated that the legal disputes on science and technology fields such as big data, block-chain and cloud computing proposed challenges to the application of 2018 International Forum on Intellectual Property and Competition Law was Successfully Held in Shanghai Jiao Tong University uncertainty to the industry development, and provided a space for the academic debate, it is urgent to strengthen the interactions among the law enforcement and judicial circle, industrial and academic circles. Annabelle Bennett, Chairman of the WIPO Judges Advisory Committee and former judge of Australian Federal Court, pointed out that China plays an increasing important role on the world stage, and the IP protection is crucial to the development of high-tech industry in China; China has entered the digital age, and the digital governance is closely linked to the digital economy. Zhang Qiong, Convener of the Expert Advisory Team of the Antimonopoly Committee of the State Council and former Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, stressed that the digital economy is the gigantic wave of the times and even an important development direction of the economy in the future. The issue of digital governance is critical to the development trend and speed of the digital economy, the transformation of old and new kinetic energy of economic development in China at present and the comprehensive competitiveness of China, which has a great practical significance. "The future already has arrived, Ant Financial is focused on broadening the boundaries of financial services through technologies and promoting the innovation in the combination of technology and business models." The master in the financial field, Tu Jianwei, Vice Director of Ant Financial, stated that "the role of digital economy in the social and economic development becomes more and more important, but the relevant digital governance is still an issue urgent to be solved. As the new economic form, the digital economy should also be correspondingly matched with the new digital governance system and pattern".
Cheng Jinhua, Assistant Dean of KoGuan School of Law, SJTU and specially-appointed professor, chaired the keynote speech at the Forum, Kong Xiangjun, Klaus Grabinski-Juge of German Federal Superme Court, Christopher Floyd, Judge of Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Reto M.Hilty, Director of Germany Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, James Dempsey, Executive Director of Science and Technology Laws Institute of University of California Berkeley, and Masahiro Murakami, Professor of Seikei University, respectively delivered excellent keynote speeches.
In the link of high - end conversation, Robin Jacob, Chair Prof. of University College London and former Judge of Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Kathleen M. O'Malley, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Rian Kalden Senior Judge of Hague Appellate Court, Li Mingde, Standing Vice-chairman of Intellectual Property Law Association and Director of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Intellectual Property Center, Li Hongjian, Presiding Judge of Third Division of Jiangsu High People's Court, et al. conducted the transnational communications at the conference chaired by Annabelle Bennett, the topics for discussion include: What is the development trend of intellectual property and competition law under the background of digital economy age? Whether the territorial principle of intellectual property has been broken through? In the trademark infringement disputes, the e-commerce development makes the territoriality of commodity transaction expanded infinitely, whether it is necessary to limit the judicial district of one country if the "likelihood of confusion" is affirmed? In the disputes about the standard essential patents, whether the court can make a decision on the global license fee etc.
Sub-Forums: Focus on the Frontier Domains, Promote the Digital Governance
After entering the digital age, the data competition in the Internet market becomes increasingly serious, and a great deal of disputes draws the public attention to the data competition order. The Sub-Forum I is themed "Data Competition Mechanism", Robin Jacob, Li Qing, Deputy Director of the Price Supervision and Inspection and Anti-Unfair Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Reto M. Hilty and other guests shared their insightful views. All experts agreed that the principle of data circulation should be followed by, while the development needs of the data industry should be respected.
Regarding the "data competition", the "data protection" has to be mentioned. In the discussion of second panel - "Data Protection and Privacy Policy", James Dempsey, Gao Fuping Prof. of East China University of Political Science and Law, Cui Guobin, Vice Dean of Tsinghua University School of Law, Nie Zhengjun, Chief Privacy Officer of Ant Financial Services Group, He Yuan Prof. of KoGuan School of Law, SJTU and other guests delivered excellent speeches about the data empowerment and data utilization issues.
The judgment on Unwired Planet v. Huawei made by Judge Birss of British Supreme Court started an upsurge of discussion on the standard essential patent license fees. Kathleen M.
O'Malley, Klaus Grabinski, Randall R. Rader, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Prof. SUZUKI Masabumi, Dean of Law School of Nagoya University), Song Jian, Judge of Jiangsu High People's Court came together at the Sub-Forum II and entered into the conversion with the focus on the panel "Standard Essential Patent - Recent Global Cases and Development", they put emphasis on discussing the jurisdiction over the disputes in the standard essential patents, the conditions and application scope of issuing a ban, the determination of license, and the affirmation of abuse of market dominant position.
The "Software Copyright Protection and Platform Responsibility" is another panel discussed at the Sub- Forum II. Under the host of Liu Jiarui, Director of Intellectual Property and Science and Technology Center of University of San Francisco Faculty of Law, Judge Kathleen M.O' Malley, Jiang Zhongdong, Presiding Judge of Third Division of Jiangsu High People's Court, Yao Bingbing, Presiding Judge of Nanjing Intellectual Property Court, and Chen Ruizi, Judge of Chengdu Intermediate People's Court Intellectual Property Court carried out the in-depth discussion. Judge Kathleen M.O' Malley emphatically introduced the Google v. Oracle Copyright Infringement Dispute where he served as presiding judge, and particularly described the dichotomy of idea expression and the reasonable use affirmation involved in the case.
The "Disputes on Key Information Facilities" is the first panel at the Sub-Forum III. Ma Minhu Prof. of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Zhao Jun, Director of the Legal Research Institute of Qihoo 360, Luo Hongwei, senior standardization expert of Security Management Department of Ant Financial Services Group and other guests conducted a thorough discussion on issues such as the scope of key information facilities, cross-border data transmission and product security from the perspectives of academic researchers, Internet product companies, Internet finance companies, transportation industry, and large-scale Internet foreign companies.
The "Policy and Legal Issues about the Artificial Intelligence" is the second panel discussed at the Sub- Forum III, which aroused a heated discussion among these guests. Judge Rian Kalden, Nobuhide Otomo, Prof. of Faculty of Law of Kanazawa University, Heinz Goddar, Prof. of Faculty of Law of University of Bremen and other guests presented their respective views on the issues such as the challenges to the judicial judgment from the development of artificial intelligence, the response and opportunities, the qualifications of civil subject in the artificial intelligence, patent authorization, ethic response and policy supervision, etc. Finally, all guests agreed that "the artificial intelligence technology can bring convenience to the judicial and administrative decisions, but the policies and laws should be laid out in advance in order to realize the long-term healthy development of the AI industry."
（Translated by Shi Zhenfang)
