Enforcement of IPR in the UK and China judicial regimes: a comparative study of anti-counterfeit litigation

This thesis contrasts the litigation of disputes in intellectual property rights between China and England. China is comparable with England in its substantive IPR law, but less so in terms of its enforcement. The thesis examines the judiciary’s role in IPR litigation and analyses the guidance on anti-piracy and unfair competition implied in IPR judicial enforcement. The thesis attempts to draw some basic criteria to achieve a clear just IPR protection in China. The thesis investigates in actual legal practice how, and to what degree from a similar legal base, IPR protection varies greatly between China and England. This involves: an analysis of case management, the discovery of evidence, the ascertainment of facts and issues of law, the legal finality, and the evaluation of judgment. The thesis considers whether there is a basic, just and practical standard of enforcement that might be followed for China. The main nature of my thesis lies in its originality in taking the first hand IPR cases to do comparative research on IPR enforcement through the lens of res judicata, overlapping multi-claims and issues of case management. It reveals the correlation between case management, judicial ascertaining of facts and issues of law, legal finality and issue estoppel, and arriving at a just result. By reviewing jurisprudential theories and their practical influence in English appellate cases, the study tries to show that transparency, equality of treatment and consistency form the basic core standard in enforcing IPR protection in China, and in providing a solid powerful foundation, from bottom to top, to promote and reform the structure of the Chinese legal regime