The People’s Court – not for some people

May 9, 2017
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The inside of a courtroom is probably not a place most travelers want to see, but as a law-junkie, I really wanted to visit a Beijing court. Not that I would understand what anyone was saying, but I was sure it would still be a good experience. As it happened, I was in luck: one of my Chinese classmates had worked at the nearby Beijing People’s District Court.

She assured me that anyone could visit the court. So with that, and armed with my passport, we headed to the People’ Court.

A visit to the People’s Court

My trip was cut very short. Security immediately separated me from the Chinese nationals. I handed over my Australian passport. The guard stared at it for a moment. An argument ensued. Chinese words flew back and forth between him and my classmate. Caught in the crossfire, all I could do was smile and appear harmless.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court

Eventually, I was refused entry. Apparently, the essence of the conversation was:

Guard: “Foreigners aren’t allowed into the Court”

My friend: “But the court rules say that everyone is allowed in.”

Guard: “yes, but I need to be careful.”

My friend: “But he [i.e. me] is a law student and wants to see a Chinese court for his studies.”

Guard: “If he gets a permission note from his teacher, I might let him in, but I’m not saying I will.”

As entertaining as it was to see Chinese bureaucracy in action, I was a bit disappointed.

But luckily enough another opportunity presented itself – a class from my university was going to visit the Beijing Intellectual Property Court – and I was tagging along.

The IP Court

Historically, China’s reputation when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights is about as good as North Korea’s reputation of peaceful nuclear research. A few years ago, it was estimated that 9 out of 10 versions of Windows operating system licences in China were pirated.

But China is busy reforming, partly because of commitments it made as a condition for it to become a member of the World Trade Organisation and other trade treaties. It now has a comprehensive legal framework for IP Law and specialised IP courts.

The Case

A captivated audience.

During my visit, the Court heard a challenge to a decision of the authorities not to renew his trademark – essentially because he had not proved that he had used it between 2013 and 2017. Hearing the case was a professional judge and two ‘lay assessors’ (in this case think of your grandma and the friend she plays bingo with).

The government didn’t bother sending anyone and it became pretty clear why. Although I was only getting a broken translation, it was obvious that the applicant’s argument had a few problems. During the hearing it transpired:

  • the trademark didn’t belong to the applicant (just some company he was associated with in some unexplained way); and
  • the ‘evidence’ produced to show that the trademark had been used between 2013 and 2017 consisted of undated photographs showing a different trademark being displayed in public… in 2011.

 

In a Chinese courtroom, fortunately not as a defendant.

The answers from the applicant’s lawyer to the judges didn’t clear anything up – in fact, they made Dennis Denuto’ ‘the vibe’ argument sound pretty persuasive.

 

I left the Court thinking: maybe I can be a lawyer in China? But alas, my bubble was quickly burst when I discovered foreign lawyers can’t represent people in Chinese Courts. Perhaps unsurprising given that foreigners seem to only be able to see the inside of Chinese court with a teacher’s permission slip or by committing a crime.

China - general