The Geneva-based Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization recently signed up to work with the Fujian High People's Court.

The two parties signed the Agreement Concerning Cooperation on Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Area of Intellectual Property, or IP, on Dec 28. The on-site signing ceremony was held at the court in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province.

As a result, Fujian became the second place in China after Shanghai to formally establish a cooperative relationship with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.

Lv Guoqiang, head of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Shanghai Service – also known as the WIPO Shanghai Service – attended the signing ceremony.

According to Lv, the agreement marks the beginning of the expansion of WIPO Shanghai Service's services beyond Shanghai to the whole country.

On the same day, the Fujian High People's Court assigned the first batch of mediation cases to the WIPO Shanghai Service.

The WIPO Shanghai Service will appoint experts and resolve the disputes as soon as possible, so as to streamline litigation and mediation between the WIPO Shanghai Service and the Fujian court, Lv said.

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center is a neutral, international and non-profit dispute resolution institution, which is known to effectively provide a variety of cost-effective alternative dispute resolution services.

The WIPO Shanghai Service, established in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in October 2019, conducts arbitration and mediation of foreign-related IP dispute cases in China.

Since its establishment, it has accepted 63 cases and concluded 50 cases, with a success rate of nearly 40 percent.