Since its establishment on Jan 1, 2019, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court (the IP Court) has been promoting the construction of the adjudication rules database centered on law application in technology-related IP cases, in response to Chief Justice Zhou Qiang's requirement of making full use of information technology and intelligent platforms to facilitate IP case trial as well as unifying IP adjudication rules and simplifying litigation procedures.

Within a year the IP court had developed an adjudication rules database named Zhi-Ji, and established supporting regulations including an achievement protection mechanism and measures for implementation of adjudication rules.

Zhi-Ji Adjudication Rules Database is the first database in China specialized in collection, summarization and promulgation of adjudication rules in connection with technology-related IP cases. The database currently includes judgments and rules with guiding values arising from the most typical cases heard by the IP Court in 2019, covering quite a number of important legal issues concerned by the relevant sectors, such as partial judgment, preliminary injunction, merged hearing for appeals on patent infringement and patent affirmation, infringement on patent of cyber-communication method, plant variety protection scope, etc.

Application of the database will unify the adjudication standards of technology-related IP cases, and provide guarantee for improving judicial quality and efficiency.

The database can help judges avoid inconsistencies and conflicts in decisions and rulings and support judges in dealing with pending cases.

Mind mapping is used to make trial of technology related IP cases direct and easy to understand. By relying on the database, the retrieval mechanism and typical case guidance systems are further promoted.

Integration of the database and the trial system realizes the function of intelligent matching of the pending cases, automatically sends applicable rules to judges, and hence may profoundly unify the adjudication standards and criteria.

The database is designed with an open pattern, allowing for more rules to be included in the future.

It will be adopted in the Supreme People's Court, all of the high courts, and 44 lower courts and tribunals with jurisdiction over technology-related IP cases.

It is expected to promote collaborative construction between the IP Court and the local specialized IP courts plus IP tribunals and to form highly efficient dispute resolution for similar cases on a cross-level and cross-region basis.

The database is also a smart research aid to technology-related IP trials. It can be relied on to clarify and summarize development of adjudication rules for specific legal issues. For example, the development of cutting-edge technologies such as biomedicine and 5G communications can be identified for investigation and research.

Making full use of information technology, the database is a result of China's judicial protection of intellectual property rights and the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies. It is also a significant move to construct "smart courts", encourage and protect innovation and create the top-notch business environment around the globe.

The IP Court will keep strengthening informatization construction to promote the in-depth integration of technology in big data plus artificial intelligence into the trial of technology-related IP cases, and to guarantee trial efficiency and promote the unification of adjudication standards.

The database was launched on April 16 and will soon open to the public.