Minford shared his strategies on how to choose the right venue in civil IP disputes in China at the 5th Annual Asia-Pacific IP Forum in Hong Kong, which was organised by Managing IP and Asialaw magazines.

During Rouse’s session, Minford said that venue inconsistency caused significant variations in time lines, evidence procedures, evaluation of damages, political influence and knowledge of IP, which posed challenges for rights owners in civil litigation in China.

“Court practice and procedure differ widely from venue to venue.” said Minford. “As a result, thorough pre-litigation venue due diligence is recommended.” he added.

Minford’s strategy is based on a series of statistics collected in the past three months. He used these statistics to show how different venues in China produce different results. For example, in internet copyright cases, damages awarded in Beijing courts are over twice as high as those awarded in Nanjing.

He Fang, head of Shanghai dispute resolution team of Rouse, illustrated the research findings using case studies from his experience in IP litigation.

During the Forum other leading in-house counsel, business leaders and private practitioners in the region gave presentations on issues such as how to tackle online counterfeit sellers, cross-border enforcement in the Asia-Pacific region and the future of IP in China.

A series of workshops offered practical advice on how to protect IP in the UAE, China Malaysia, Korea and The Philippines.

The 5th Annual Asia-Pacific IP Forum was organised by Managing IP and Asialaw at Kowloon Shangri-la, Hong Kong.