[Shanghai Law Journal] Short but Complete Instrument
Shanghai Intellectual Property Court Made Tabular Judgment for the First Time to Promote Judgment Document Reform
Sept. 26, 2018Shanghai Law JournalA03:Comprehensive · Voice
By intern reporter Zhang Yehe
An intellectual property judgment which should have contained ten thousands of words becomes a simple tabular judgment with only over a thousand words. Recently, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court (hereinafter referred to as the “SIPC”) produced the first tabular judgment in a trial of computer software development contract dispute. It is learned that the tabular judgment is one of the exploration measures in the production of instruments for adapting to the new requirements of judicial reform.
Seeing the tabular judgment, the reporter found that this judgment was very different from general judgments. Compared with lengthy, hundreds of pages of intellectual property judgments, this tabular document is more concise. The defense of the plaintiff and the defendant, uncontroversial facts, controversy focus, the final judgment grounds and legal basis are clear and complete in only a thousand words.
It is learned that the trial period of the case is only less than three months. In the trial of the case, neither the defendant nor the plaintiff had dispute over the contract terms and the performance of the contractual matters. The dispute focus only lies in the time of fee payment. After the case review, SIPC decided to present the main information in a form and moderately simplify reasoning in the part of judgment reasons with reasoning focusing on dispute focus of the case, and made this tabular judgment. This move effectively enhances the convenience and timeliness of judicial remedies for intellectual property rights, and is a useful attempt to solve the problem of “long cycle” in the trial of intellectual property cases.
How to promote the separation of simple documents from complex ones and simplify the style of the judgments of common and simple cases? How to express judicial thoughts and judgment reasons in a way that is popular with and well known tothe public? From the Supreme People's Court’s listing of the reform of judgment instruments as a priority of court reform in the Outlines of People’s Courts on Five-Year Reformin 1999 to the introduction of Several Opinions on Further Promoting the Separation of Simple Cases from Complex Ones to Optimize the Allocation of Judicial Resources, more attention has been paid to reasoning of legal instruments, and reasoning has become a priority in legal instruments. SIPC expressed that the production of this tabular judgment is a practice in the context of “the separation of simple cases from complex ones to optimize the allocation of judicial resources”. The production of tabular judgments can provide convenience to the parties. It can be understood by ordinary people at a glance. For judges and case handlers, it can greatly improve the trial efficiency of cases and facilitate the filing of cases in the later period.
It is learned that the tabularjudgment is one of the exploration measures in the production of instruments for adapting to the new requirements of judicial reform. The combination of tabular templates and the information of specific cases greatly improves the efficiency of judgment preparation. This can not only save judicial resources, shorten trial cycle, improve the efficiency of judges, but also never miss the basic elements of a judgment, making judgments, judgment items and basis clear at a glance.
