Jurists from China and the United States Wednesday gathered in Hangzhou, east China, at a forum on the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) "337" Investigations in a bid to help Chinese enterprises respond to charges of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement.

Under Section 337 of the United States Tariff Act of 1930, imported products that allegedly violate U.S. IPR can be barred from entry into the United States. Complaints under Section 337 are made to the USITC, and generally involve allegations of infringement of patents, trademarks or copyrights.

Many enterprises along the east China coast are export-orientedand many of their products are sold to the United States.

"However, few of them are aware of IPR protection, especially Section 337 investigations, and some have suffered a great loss inexport deals," said Zhang Qin, deputy director-general of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

"We will establish an IPR protection system and relevant rules to help Chinese exporters in their development in the domestic andinternational markets," he added.

Huang Song, a partner with Haiwen & Partners in Shanghai, said in 2004 the USITC lodged 45 complaints under Section 337 against Chinese enterprises, 22 of which involved enterprises on the Chinese mainland.

According to Thomas L. Jarvis, a registered patent attorney anda partner at Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner Ltd., theUSITC are investigating 26 cases of complaints under Section 337, and 15 of them are related to China.

Huang encouraged Chinese enterprises to face up to the challenges as many Chinese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized companies, are restrained from responding to litigation for fear of the high costs of a complaint to the USITC.

The two-day seminar -- American Intellectual Property and "337"Litigation Practices -- is sponsored by the Intellectual Property Development and Research Center of the SIPO.

Top on the agenda are issues such as the judicial system in theUnited States and its jurisdiction over IPR related disputes, strategies and countermeasures for Chinese enterprises involved inIPR-related disputes in the United States and the interface between anti-trust and IPR.

The participants also include Randall Rader, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Charles Bullock, the ITC Administrative Law judge.