From November 13 to 17, 2017, the third special committee on the “Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters”(Judgement Project) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) was held at the Peace Palace of Hague. As the only representative from IBA, partner of Jingtian & Gongcheng’s Disputes Resolution Department Hu Ke joined the discussion on intellectual property judgements from 14 to 15, and delivered speeches on the plenary session of the Special Committee and the informal drafting taskforce.
The Judgement Project is a priority of HCCH. Its purpose is to formulate a convention that is widely accepted, and effectively recognize and enforce foreign judgements in civil and commercial matters, so as to increase the opportunity for sufficient and effective judicial remedy, and to promote cross-boarder trade and investment by lowering costs and risks related to cross-boarder transactions. The Chinese government attaches great importance to, and actively participates in the relevant negotiations of the Judgement Project, and has sent big delegations to each meeting of the Special Committee.
Hu Ke joins the Judgement Project task force of the Litigation Committee of IBA. As the only lawyer from China, he is fully involved in the discussions and documents preparation, and jointly drafts the opinions on contract cases judgement and IP judgement in the first report of the task force, and is responsible for drafting the opinions on IP judgment in the second special report of the task force. Based on his solid knowledge on private international law and rich practical experiences and focusing on the relationship between cross-border enforcement of IP judgement and the territorialism of IP, Mr. Hu has written distinct and convincing arguments in line with the practical needs and development trend of cross-boarder IP disputes.
According to the arrangement of the task force and financed by IBA, Mr. Hu participated the Special Committee on behalf of IBA. During the meeting, Mr. Hu conducted extensive communication with HCCH, the Chinese delegation and delegation members from USA, EU, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea and Brazil. He also exchanged ideas with observer delegates from private sectors such as AIPPI, IFPI and INTA.
Thought the US delegation strongly opposed to including IP judgement in the Convention, with the coordinated efforts by China, EU, Switzerland and observer delegates from the private sectors, the Special Committee achieved extensive consensus and fundamental progress, and drafted the documents to include IP in the Convention under the premise of territorialism.
Before the meeting, Mr. Hu also visited Dutch law firms De Brauw Blackstone LLP, Hoyng Rokh Monegier LLP, Valegis LLP and exchanged ideas with foreign counterparts on heated topics like IP litigation in China and EU and the Judgement Project.
HCCH is founded in 1893 and is an inter-governmental organization for the study and drafting of conventions of international law. It is such named because its venue and standing body are both at Hague in Holland. Up till now, HCCH has passed 36 conventions, concerning legal applicability of international civil and commercial affairs, international civil litigation procedures and judicial cooperation, etc. China joined HCCH on July 3, 1987 and has joined Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters , and Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption.
International Bar Association (IBA) is founded in 1947 and is headquartered in London UK. Its mission is to facilitate the information flow among legal organizations in the world. IBA has over 80,000 individual members and group members of lawyer organizations from over 200 countries and regions. It’s the world’s largest and most influential lawyer organization, and has a special consulting status at UN General Assembly and ECOSOC. All China Lawyers Association joined IBA in 1987.
