IP Risks Grow as Chinese Companies Expand

Cybercourts Ease Judicial Workloads, Provide Better Rulings

Image Company under Fire after Black Hole 'Copyright'

China is facing growing intellectual property risks as China is quickening its overseas expansion, experts said on a forum on Friday. During the China Enterprises Going Global Risk Conference Ding Liang, a partner at De Heng Law Offices, said one of the main risks faced by enterprises investing in overseas markets in recent years was pre-emptive trademark registration. For Chinese enterprises to invest in overseas markets, Ding Liang said, companies should be on the alert for intellectual risks, prepare response plans and make full use of third-party service centers or platforms to avoid risks earlier. Growing along with "One Belt, One Road" initiatives, the annual Chinese Enterprises Going Global Risk Conference started in 2015. Its goal is to improve Chinese enterprises' capability to recognize risk, solve disputes and use platforms to create more opportunities for Chinese enterprises to invest globally, Shen said. Zhang Hanzhi contributed to this story.

pre-emptive adj. /ˌpriːˈemp.tɪv/

 If something is pre-emptive, it is done before other people can act, especially to prevent them from doing something else.  抢先的；（尤指）先发制人的

例句：The Treasury has decided to raise interest rates as a pre-emptive measure against inflation.

Since it opened in September, the Beijing Internet Court has accelerated hearing times and improved efficiency. Unlike most of the trials Liu Shuhan handled in the past, which consumed large amounts of time and energy, the judge in Beijing concluded a case in just 40 minutes last month, and the litigants didn't even have to show up in court. The hearing-a dispute over an online shopping contract-was conducted online, so the plaintiff and defendant addressed the court via electronic screens. The innovative trial was held at the Beijing Internet Court, where all the procedures-including case filing, evidence exchange, hearings and delivery of verdicts-are conducted online. With more than 800 million internet users nationwide, e-commerce disputes and online infringements have clogged China's courts in recent years. In response, the first internet court opened in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, in 2017. Last year, Beijing and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, followed suit. A recent guideline from the Supreme People's Court, the country's top judicial body, stipulated that online courts would be responsible for hearing internet-related disputes, such as those regarding online loans, purchasing contracts and copyright issues, along with cases involving intellectual property rights.

 litigant n. /ˈlɪt.ɪ.ɡənt/

 a person who is fighting a legal case 诉讼当事人

例句： The Judge is entitled to run the court in an efficient way for the benefit of litigants.

法官有权以有效的方式为诉讼当事人提起诉讼。

The first-ever image of a black hole has sucked a Chinese image provider Visual China Group into a "black hole" of its own, after some "we media" players complained that the company put its copyright logo on the image. Just after the black hole image was released on Wednesday, some found the Visual China Group website carried the image with its logo, which means payment is required to use the image. The company released a statement Thursday afternoon that the company gained the image copyright from the Event Horizon Telescope teams for use in media, not for commercial use such as advertisements. Materials from the official websites of scientific authorities such as the European Southern Observatory and NASA are available free, so long as users clearly credit the source. The ESO has said Visual China has not made contact about the black hole image and it is illegal for it to claim copyright. Visual China Group faced further complaints Thursday after the official account of the Communist Youth League Central Committee questioned the company's right to sell images of the national flag and national emblem on its website. Some companies and organizations have found the image company also sells products with their logos.

emblem n. /ˈem.bləm/

a picture of an object that is used to represent a particular person, group, or idea 象征；标志；符号；徽章

例句：A rose is the national emblem of England.

玫瑰是英格兰的标志。