On the morning of May 16, a moot court course designed by the judges from the Intellectual Property Division of the Shanghai High People’s Court is in progress. More than 40 Chinese and foreign students from the WIPO class of the SICIP of Tongji University carefully “listen to the class” through the Internet, including 20 international students from 9 countries including Russia, Latvia, Saudi Arabia, and Zimbabwe.

The moot court case was based on a real patent dispute. The judge, plaintiff, defendant, and clerk were all played by members of the collegial panel of the case—Wang Jing, Kong Liming, Zhu Jiaping, and Dong Erhui. In order to better show the intellectual property trial work in China to the domestic and foreign students, the judges in Shanghai and Beijing spent a month discussing in advance, working overtime to rehearse and completed the final recording based on the online trial platform of Shanghai court.

"I'm very touched. It’s very professional, and is a good example." Prof. Cheng Deli, the head of the WIPO class of SICIP of Tongji University, commented after the trial. "Very great demonstration, thank you all." The students also expressed their praises.

"The moot court demonstration course is mainly to enable these students who have not been exposed to court trial, especially foreign students, to have a perceptual understanding of China's intellectual property case trial process." Wang Jing told reporters.

In November 2016, with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the National Intellectual Property Administration and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, SICIP was formally established at Tongji University. In September 2017, the WIPO-Tongji MIP Program and the Belt and Road MIP Program started recruiting students. In addition to Chinese students, it also recruited foreign students from countries along the “Belt and Road” and Asia and Europe.

In April 2018, the Shanghai High People’s Court and Tongji University signed the "Framework Agreement on Cooperation in Strengthening Intellectual Property Law Education and Judicial Practice". Every year, intellectual property judges will participate in WIPO classes and the Belt and Road classes to provide judicial practice courses on the judicial protection of intellectual property in China in English and on-site guidance to moot court, etc.

Due to the impact of the epidemic, all courses in the WIPO class this year will be conducted by online video, and the moot court demonstration course of the judge team will also be recorded and played online on the online court platform of the Shanghai court.

"Very practical and introductory." Mr. Mohsin Ali from Pakistan not only praised the moot court but also developed a strong interest in the online trial platform the Shanghai court. "In the difficult times around the world, this application of technology is extremely efficient. After returning to the motherland, I will promote the online court trial platform as a model."

"The original intention of the establishment of the SICIP was to train international high-end intellectual property talents, that is, those with a broad international perspective, interdisciplinary background, and knowledge of international rules, and the participation of the judge team played an important role in achieving this goal." Prof. Yu Xinmiao, the Deputy Dean of the SICIP, told reporters.

For Chinese students, the college hopes that they will take root in China, understand and master the theory and practice of Chinese intellectual property, and have the ability to participate in foreign-related intellectual property affairs and be competent in international organizations. The team of judges of the Shanghai Court made a very good demonstration in this regard.

For international students, judicial practice courses can enable them to have a deep understanding of the specific system design and implementation plan for the judicial protection of intellectual property in China in addition to theoretical study. This is of great reference significance for them to engage in the intellectual property business involving China after graduation and to build and improve their own judicial protection system for intellectual property.

Ms. Wang Jing, who is in charge of the WIPO project at the Shanghai High People’s Court, said that behind the unanimous affirmation of the students and the school is the unremitting efforts and hard work of the judge team for three years.

"Our teachers are carefully selected." She told reporters that to ensure the quality of teaching, each teacher of the team is selected according to relevant procedures and has good strengths in professional literacy, English speech, and courseware production. At the same time, the courseware of each teacher is checked and rehearsed in advance to ensure that the teaching content is standardized, smooth, and vivid.

Besides, to further understand the teaching effect and the needs of students, after the end of the course each year, the Shanghai Court will also conduct a secret questionnaire survey on all students. According to the investigation results, the Shanghai court timely improved the curriculum, teaching methods, and teacher allocation, etc., to promote the course to be more perfect.

"In the future, the Shanghai High People’s Court will further deepen its cooperation with Tongji University and build a College-Court Joint Talent Training Mechanism. A team of practical experts is formed by the Shanghai High People’s Court, and Tongji University jointly creates excellent Chinese and English courses. Both sides will use the college as a platform to jointly deliver high-end international intellectual property talents to the world." Mr. Zhang Bin, the Vice President of the Shanghai High People’s Court, said.