China’s first Online Court recently opened in Hangzhou, one of China’s principal tech hubs and home to many major Internet companies such as Alibaba and NetEase. Located in an already existing court building, the Online Court has taken up to 1.500 cases thus far. The court will use an online platform that allows people to file cases and attend trials, but you need to sign up for a cyber-court account. You can attend your trial remotely by entering a verification code on a webpage.
These also called “Cyberspace Courts” started out as a project in 2015 and have been a great success. They recently received a new update that allows plaintiffs to file cases and upload evidence online and even appear at hearings via video link.
While in 2013 there have only been 600 online cases, the number rapidly increased in 2016 to a whopping 10.000. Alibaba alone receives about 4 million customer complaints per year.
The following cases will be tried by the Cyber-court:
- domain name disputes
- disputes arising from Internet based administration
- disputes regarding online purchases of goods, online service agreements
- disputes regarding copyright ownership and infringement
- product liability claims for goods purchased online
Even though these Cyberspace Courts may facilitate future court procedure, there is also a negative aspect. The protection of personal data might become an issue. With every information of a case being online, sensitive data might be more susceptible to hackers.