On 20th, April, Tongji University and Shanghai High People’s Court jointly signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement for Strengthening IP Legal Education and Judicial Practices, so that both sides will better utilize the advantages of educational and practical resources respectively from the University and the Court, in order to promote an in-depth integration between intellectual property (IP) legal education and judicial practices and cultivate an increasing number of IP legal elites with features of applied and inter-disciplinary knowledge and capacities. It has been a practical move of both sides to implement the spirit of 19th CPC Congressabout “Enhancing Creation, Protection and Utilization of IP”, also actively echoing the request from President Xi Jinping in BOAO Forum regarding “Strengthening IP Protection”.

Justice Liu Xiaoyun (Second Rank Justice of PRC), President and Party Secretary of CPC General Branch of Shanghai High People’s Court, and Prof. Zhong Zhihua, President of Tongji University and Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, both attended the Signing Ceremony and delivered a speech. Justice Zhang Bin (Second Rank Justice of PRC), Vice President of Shanghai High People’s Court and Prof. Lei Xinghui, Vice President of Tongji University, on behalf of both sides, jointly signed the Cooperation Framework Agreement. Justice Zhang also introduced the background of the cooperation. Vice President Jiang Bo of Tongji University hosted the ceremony.

In accordance with the Cooperation Framework Agreement, both sides will implement plans to appoint and send talented employees to conduct communications and serve temporary positions in each other’s institution, and develop comprehensive cooperation in respect of database sharing, research projects, case discussions, education and training, international exchanges, etc. Tongji University will engage judges with rich experiences and profound theoretical basis from Shanghai High People’s Court to work as external part-time postgraduate supervisors, giving series lectures related to legal practices, participating in tasks of teaching and talents cultivation of our university. Tongji will also provide the Court with human resources and intellectual support for seminars and research programs about IP laws held by the Court. Meanwhile, Shanghai High People’s Court will offer internship opportunities for students from Tongji, and designate experienced judges as their mentors, so as to effectively develop the practical legal skills and professional qualifications for these students.

Justice Liu Xiaoyun expressed in his speech that, it’s important and urgent task faced by both people’s courts and universities to explore how to realize the mutual benefiting from each other’s advantages, to improve the mutual promotion between teaching and learning, to drive the in-depth integration between legal education and judicial practices, and to ensure the full play of the leading role of judicial protection of IP. Justice Liu hoped that both sides will establish and improve a long term effective work mechanism, so that on the one hand, we may introduce the high quality practical resources of the court into universities, and on the other hand, we can take the advantage of the rich academic resources and pioneering positioning in international researches from the university. Through this cooperation mechanism, we should make efforts to solve the difficult problems in both judicial practices and theoretical researches related to IP, collaborate in the cultivation of a group of talented elites in both legal studies and judicial practices, and continuously improve the level of legal education, research and adjudication in IP fields, so that we may jointly provide a firm guarantee of IP talents and human resources for developing a more powerful nation with strong IP competitiveness and science and advanced technology in the world.

President Zhong Zhihua, pointed out in his speech that the IP related disciplines of Tongji University have formed prominent features of its own, relying on its superiority in science, engineering and internationalization. IP legal study is a discipline of extremely strong practical orientation, and relevant teaching and researches must be combined with practices closely. Shanghai High People’s Court is pioneer in the judicial reform around China, boasting a first-class group of judges with international perspective, plentiful experiences in adjudicating foreign related IP cases, and a “smart court” system with advanced level in the world. He believed that the cooperation will definitely firmly support the development of the Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property of Tongji University (SICIP) and promote the fast growth of the IP cause in China. He hoped that the joint talents cultivation mechanism of both sides established between university and the court will improve the education level of international IP talents rooted in China’s land, further the spreading of China’s experiences in judicial protection of IP throughout the world and contribute to the international IP legal system China’s wisdom, as well as China’s solutions.

As an important move to support the strengthening of China’s power with strong IP competitiveness and the development of Shanghai into a GlobalScience and Technology Innovation Center, and under the guidance of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), Shanghai municipal government has coordinated all relevant resources in the city and established the SICIP in Tongji University, in November 2016. SICIP is collaborating with world class faculties and professors in IP fields, in order to build “an international first-class platform of talents education and cultivation, an international first-class IP studies research center, an international first-class think tank”. Tongji University has been the first and the only university in China to cooperate with WIPO through a joint IP master program, as well as the only institution undertaking the IP master degree program entrustedjointly by Ministry of Education and SIPO, which has been supported by China’s Government Belt & Road IP Scholarship. In accordance with filing withAcademic Degree Committee of the State Council, Tongji has successfully set up a new IP inter-disciplinary Doctoral Degree Program.

Directors of relevant offices of Shanghai High People’s Court, as well as Tongji University attended the ceremony, including directors from court administration office, IP adjudicating department, research office of the court, and university administration office, publicity office, office of arts and social sciences, SICIP etc.