WIPO China: Improving Litigation-Mediation Coordination and Facilitating International IP Dispute Resolution

On July 2, 2026, Mr. Ignacio de Castro, Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center, visited the Shanghai High People’s Court. Mr. Jia Yu, President of the Shanghai High People’s Court, met with Mr. de Castro and the delegation.

Mr. de Castro expressed his appreciation to the Shanghai courts on behalf of WIPO, for their longstanding support of the work of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. He noted that WIPO is the specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to the protection of IP and the promotion of innovation and creativity. Through mediation, arbitration, expedited arbitration, expert determination, and domain name dispute resolution services, WIPO provides international, neutral, and specialized alternative dispute resolution services for IP disputes. In 2025, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center administered nearly 1,500 disputes relating to IP, innovation, and technology, representing a 70% increase compared with 2024.

Mr. de Castro stated that, with the support of the Supreme People’s Court of China, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has signed cooperation agreements with the high people’s courts of six provinces and direct-administered municipalities in China. The successful experience of cooperation between WIPO and Chinese courts in the field of IP has provided useful reference for other Member States and has enhanced the influence of China’s judicial protection of IP. Courts in a number of Member States have expressed interest in establishing cooperation with WIPO. The Shanghai courts were among the first courts to cooperate with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, and it has referred the largest number of cases and achieved the highest number of successful mediations among the cooperating courts. These achievements fully reflect the important role of the Shanghai courts in the cooperation between the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center and Chinese courts. He expressed the hope that WIPO and the Shanghai courts would further strengthen cooperation, improve the coordination between WIPO arbitration and mediation and court litigation, and facilitate international IP dispute resolution.

On behalf of the Shanghai High People’s Court, Mr. Jia Yu welcomed Mr. de Castro and the delegation. He noted that, in recent years, under the guidance of the Supreme People’s Court, the Shanghai courts have continued to deepen cooperation with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, contributing to the credibility of China’s judiciary and raise its international profile. As Shanghai is accelerating its development into a science and technology innovation center with global influence, IP protection is of vital importance. He expressed the hope that both sides would continue to uphold the spirit of mutual learning, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, further deepen exchanges and cooperation in the field of IP protection, provide more diversified dispute resolution channels for Chinese and foreign parties, jointly foster a law-based environment conducive to innovation and development, and contribute to strengthening Shanghai’s role as a science and technology innovation center and to advancing global IP governance under the WIPO framework.

Following the meeting, the two sides held a working discussion. Mr. Lyu Guoqiang, Head of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Shanghai Service, introduced the cooperation between the Shanghai Service and the Shanghai High People’s Court since the establishment of the Shanghai Service. The two sides also exchanged views on improving court-referred mediation, the coordination between litigation, mediation, and arbitration, talent development, and judicial exchanges.

Representatives from relevant departments of the Shanghai High People’s Court, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, the Pudong New Area People’s Court, the Xuhui District People’s Court, the Putuo District People’s Court, and the Changning District People’s Court, as well as Ms. Zhang Junqin, Senior Counsellor of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, attended the discussion.

In October 2021, WIPO and the Shanghai High People’s Court signed a Memorandum of Understanding, under which foreign-related IP cases accepted by the Shanghai High People’s Court, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, the Pudong New Area People’s Court, the Putuo District People’s Court, the Xuhui District People’s Court, and the Yangpu District People’s Court may be referred to the Shanghai Service for mediation. In September 2025, the two sides revised the Memorandum of Understanding, expanding the scope of courts that may refer cases to the Shanghai Service for mediation from the original participating courts to all primary people’s courts in Shanghai. As of the end of June 2026, the Shanghai courts had referred a total of 158 cases to the Shanghai Service for mediation, accounting for 62% of all court-referred cases. 37 cases were successfully settled through mediation. Among cases in which a mediator was appointed, the settlement rate was approximately 47%, accounting for 62% of all successfully mediated court-referred cases. The cases involved trademarks, patents, trademarks and unfair competition, copyright infringement, and IP contractual disputes. The parties came from 19 countries, including China, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The representative of the Shanghai High People’s Court was invited to present the Shanghai courts’ experience at a side event organized by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center during the 2022 WIPO Assemblies. The relevant practice was included as an example in WIPO Alternative Dispute Resolution Options – A Guide for IP Offices and Courts. Nine judgments from the Shanghai courts have also been included in the WIPO Lex-Judgments database.