An interview for recruiting senior judges for the Intellectual Property Court (IPC) from the public was conducted on Jan 22 at the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

According to the SPC, the SPC released the recruitment notice to the public on Dec 19, 2018, in a drive to recruit two senior judges for the intellectual property court.

A total of nine people -- two experts and scholars, four lawyers and three patent agents -- passed the qualification examination and professional evaluation.

A person in charge of recruitment at the SPC explained that selecting professional talents from the public enriches the judge team with expertise from various professional backgrounds.

Luo Dongchuan, vice-president of the SPC and head of the IPC, said public selection for recruiting judges is an important move of judicial reform, and is intended to elect talents to support the construction of the Intellectual Property Court.

He added that he hoped that the court would become an open platform to train IP professional judges and that the recruitment is the start.

A candidate said that "the public recruitment is a chance to work at the court. I have always wanted to be a judge and realize my value."