Recently, the Supreme People's Court released the Several Opinions on Setting up Contradiction Solving Mechanism to Connect Litigation and Non-Litigation (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"). Since IPR disputes usually involve strong professional and technical issues, more non-litigation institutes will be guided and encouraged to get involved in the settlement of disputes in order to improve the efficiency of case settlement. Of course, judges will also be trained for this purpose.
According to the Opinions, settlement agreements facilitated by administrative authorities, commercial settlement institutes, professional mediation institutes or any other organizations with settlement missions shall assume the effect of civil contract, which shall be binding on all parties.
Besides, the interested parties can apply to the people's court of its jurisdiction to confirm effectiveness of the agreement. Once any party refuses to fulfill the agreement, the other party can ask the court for compulsory execution.
The Opinions also required that, people's courts at all levels cooperate with relevant organizations to develop alternative dispute resolution system, enhance the effective connection between pre-trial mediation and mediation during the trial, and perfect the coordination of different solutions.
