A symposium themed “Improving the Legal System of Property Rights Protection” took place on June 10. Co-hosted by the Institute for Chinese Legal Modernization Studies (ICLMS), the Jiangsu Provincial University-based Synergy and Innovation Center of Rule of Law and other university institutes, the symposium gathered more than 50 experts and scholars to discuss issues related to property rights protection.

“In the context of a modern society, the market economy necessarily requires expedited efforts to promote the rule of law, and the legislation of property rights protection must be at the forefront,” said Gong Pixiang, director of the ICLMS.

Cai Baogang, a professor of law at Yangzhou University, agreed. He noted that the economy and the legal system are at the core of a country’s national development. Cai said the quality of the legal system fundamentally decides a country’s capacity and efficiency when allocating market resources.

“An improved property rights protection system should be fostered as the endogenous impetus for the thriving of a socialist market economy,” Gong said, who called for the need to protect property rights and legitimate interests in an economy with diverse forms of ownership. Gong also called for innovation in the protection system.

He pointed out that entrepreneurs’ property rights and benefits obtained in the process of innovation should be ensured by means of legal rules and institutions to encourage entrepreneurship. At the same time, judicial remedies of intellectual property rights should be strengthened, Gong added.

Qian Hongdao from Guanghua Law School at Zhejiang University highlighted the importance of big data in promoting the legalization of property rights protection. He said big data is a promising instrument for supporting the legal system that represents the future trend of the rule of law. Property rights protection requires the smartness, precision and efficiency made possible by rule of law based on big data, Qian said.

Cai Lidong, a professor of law at Jilin University, said that the permeation of the internet has helped generate a new form of property: “virtual property.” Property that only exists in the world of the internet is also bound by law. Only when the demand for new types of property rights is met in an efficient and timely fashion, can the ability of the legal system to clarify property ownership be optimized, Cai said.