Jointly organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center and the Bluetech Clean Air Alliance (BCAA), the webinar under the topic of “How to Efficiently Resolve Disputes Arising out of International Transfer of Green Technology in the context of China’s Carbon Neutrality” was successfully organized on May 18, 2020. Experts discussed the key issues that arise when dealing with IP disputes relating to international transfer of green technology and know-how between Chinese companies and international collaborators.
"""China is already the world's largest green technology market. Driven by the goal of carbon neutrality, China will create over a hundred trillion RMB market of green technology by 2050." Xie Hongxing, director of the Bluetech Clean Air Alliance (BCAA), introduced at the opening ceremony, “To achieve carbon neutrality, China will have a great demand for green innovations from all over the world, and in the process of transferring these technologies to China, related IP issues are often the key to determining whether the transfer can be realized. This is why we organize today’s seminar."."."
In the opening remark, Mr. Ignacio de Castro, Director of IP Disputes and External Relations Division of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, introduced that “WIPO welcomes continued strong cooperation with China in intellectual property dispute resolution. The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) offers time and cost-efficient alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options, such as mediation, arbitration, expedited arbitration, and expert determination to enable private parties to settle their domestic or cross-border commercial disputes. Established in 1994, the WIPO Center is an independent, neutral and highly internationalized department of WIPO, which focused on the resolution of intellectual property and technical disputes”. Mr. de Castro further mentioned that "to better assist dispute resolution in the process of international technical cooperation, the WIPO Center works with governments, institutions and stakeholders around the world to develop a series of contract templates applicable to R&D and technical cooperation projects. In China, the cooperation with China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and the Bluetech Clean Air Alliance (BCAA) is currently in progress. By using the contract template, both parties may pay attention to and fully discuss intellectual property issues at the initial stage of the project and as a result to reduce disputes in the subsequent stages”.
The seminar was divided into two themes according to different stages of technology transfer, which are “The negotiation and determination of the terms of international technology transfer agreements” and “The implementation of international technology transfer agreements”. Experts from domestic enterprise, international technology provider, lawyer, technology transfer organization and WIPO participated in the discussion and expressed their views.
"""SDL has also conducted many mergers and acquisitions of overseas companies. In the process of overseas mergers and acquisitions, according to our experience, it is necessary to make sufficient judgments on the maturity and applicability of the technology, and investigate whether it has adequate intellectual property protection. In addition, in cases where only part of the technologies is transferred, it must be agreed in advance whether those technologies will infringe the intellectual property of the untransferred technology during the development and application process." Mr. Ge Yijie, Investment Director of Beijing SDL Technology Co., Ltd. pointed out in his speech. Mr. Zhao Lijian, President of Carbon Trust China, said, "Many green technology companies from the UK are also very interested in the Chinese market. However, in the process of overseas green technology acquisition and merger, it is an important challenge to reach an agreement on the intellectual property value evaluation".".".
Ms. Dong Qiyao, Legal Case Manager at the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center said that “nowadays, many companies when encountering disputes in the process of overseas mergers and acquisitions would prefer to go for litigation. They present to be less familiar with mediation and arbitration proceedings. In fact, in practice, mediation and arbitration proceedings are more flexible and cost- and time- efficient as compared to international/multinational litigation. Particularly for mediation, parties of a dispute are entitled to agree on the person as their mediator. Parties may initiate and conduct mediation in an agreed flexible manner to effectively solve disputes arising at different contract stages, from negotiation, drafting to the final implementation. Through mediation, parties may maintain a positive business relationship throughout the cooperation process, despite the disputes.” Mr. Ma Yuanchao, Equity Partner at Zhong Lun Law Firm and WIPO Mediator, indicated that “Unlike litigation which mostly results in a published judgment, the proceedings and final result of mediation and arbitration are strictly confidential. Effective arbitration award is internationally enforceable, and party can apply across borders to enforce the award. In contrast, cross-border enforcement of court judgements is very difficult to achieve”.
This event is the first in the series of "green technology international transfer webinars", and is focusing on the issues faced by stakeholders in bringing-in green technologies into China. In the future, organizers plan to hold the second event, aiming at the intellectual property issues and solutions in Chinese innovative green technology going abroad.
To review the recorded video of the webinar, please go to the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/6956070623787305231
