Judicial panel to focus on monopoly cases

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court has set up a panel to handle cases involving competition and monopolies among businesses after seeing a rapid growth of such disputes in recent years.

Song Yushui, vice-president of the court, said on Wednesday that from November 2014 — when the court was established — to the end of last year, 1,436 related cases were filed. Of these, 1,244 were resolved.

"The number of such cases has increased rapidly over the past few years," she said. "They have not only covered traditional industries, including those in the service and manufacturing sectors, but have also targeted enterprises linked to new major fields, such as information security, the digital economy, internet platforms and technological innovation," she said.

Data showed that the number of monopoly and unfair competition cases heard by the court rose to 306 last year from 184 in 2020.

"That number is expected to exceed 500 this year," Song estimated.

To that end, she said the court has established a judicial panel that will specialize in handling such cases. The judge will conduct research on the disputes and be better trained to deal with them.

Si Pinhua, a judge from the court, said that the aim is to enhance public awareness of fair competition, keep the market in order and promote industrial development through the panel's verdicts.

"While resolving irregularities in some new fields, our rulings should also provide the space for the industries to further develop, and we have to give equal protection to every market entity in the case hearings," he said.

"No matter where an enterprise comes from or how influential it is, we'll protect its legitimate rights, trying our best to create a fair, transparent and predictable business environment for it."