Research On The Technical Investigator Syste

Since 2014,the Interim Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Participation of Technical Investigators in Litigation Activities of Intellectual Property Courts first established the technical investigator system,and by the promulgation of the Several Provisions on the Participation of Technical Investigators in Litigation Activities in Intellectual Property Cases in 2019,China’s technical investigator system has gone through the initial exploration stage to the development stage,and established the basic contents of five aspects: the selection qualification of technical investigators,legal positioning,scope of application,initiation method and legal nature of technical investigation opinions.In addition to the general value of facilitating the ascertainment of technical facts,improving litigation efficiency and enhancing judicial credibility,China’s technical investigator system also has special values that are more neutral,more efficient than the appraisal system,and more credible than the technical consultation system.However,at the institutional level,there are still shortcomings such as a single initiation method,non-disclosure of technical investigation opinions,and localization of the technical investigator system.At the same time,although the people’s courts continue to break through the provisions on the scope of application,applicable procedures and technical investigation opinions not to be disclosed at the beginning of the establishment of the system,they have carried out a lot of active explorations in an attempt to make up for the shortcomings of the technical investigation officer system.Judicial practice shows that the technical investigator system still has practical difficulties such as ambiguous forms of performance and inconsistent selection criteria.Drawing on the useful experience of the extraterritorial technical investigator system,and taking into account China’s national conditions,the optimization path of China’s technical investigator system should start from improving the selection and management mechanism of technical investigators,expanding the scope of application of the technical investigator system,adding parties to initiate technical investigation procedures upon application,establishing a mechanism for disclosure of technical investigation opinions,and establishing a collegial system for technical investigators,so as to give full play to the role of the technical investigator system in adjudication.At the same time,establish an effective connection mechanism between the technical investigator system and other technical fact ascertainment mechanisms,resolve conflicts of opinion effectiveness under different mechanisms,make technical fact ascertainment mechanisms complement each other,and jointly promote fair and efficient trials of technical-related cases in China’s civil litigation.