The Supreme People's Court (SPC), China's top court, on Aug 27 held an Open Day for envoys from 16 countries, who attended a hearing on an intellectual property right (IPR) dispute at the SPC.

At the center of the row over an appearance design patent were China’s Zhejiang Jianlong Sanitary Ware Co, Ltd and Germany’s Grohe AG, the world’s leading provider of sanitary fittings.

China has intensified its efforts to improve its judicial attention to IPR protection in recent years. The top court on Aug 25 submitted a proposal to set up IPR tribunals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou respectively to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

João Garcia Bires, the Angolan ambassador to China, told Chinanews.com that he believes China will make greater progress in judicial transparency and that Angola can learn from China in this regard.

Zhou Qiang, the SPC’s top justice and president, met with all foreign diplomats present at the event and briefed them on China’s court trials and judicial openness.

Zhou said the Open Day was one of a series of events planned by the top court and more foreign envoys will be invited in the future.

For Sun Jungong, spokesman for the top court, the Open Day was an opportunity to show China’s achievements as well as its confidence and determination in forging ahead with judicial openness.

Sun said Court Open Days are also aimed to show China’s resolution to equally protect the legal rights of citizens, corporations and other organizations from different countries and regions with diversified political, judicial and social systems.

”Anyone who comes to China will be protected and regulated by Chinese laws,” Sun said.

Chinese courts aim to show the international community their determination to promote and ensure fairness through improved openness, Sun said. “Our openness will be all-round, not selective,” he noted.

The SPC Open Day also signaled China’s willingness to deepen exchange with the rest of the world in the judicial field, he added.

Such events will be held on a regular basis in the future in order to allow more people to have a better understanding of Chinese court systems and judges, Sun added.

Since last year, the top court has been releasing a series of English-language publications as part of its effort to demonstrate judicial openness to the outside world.