Copyright case to be live on national TV
A copyright infringement claim will on Saturday become the first court case to be shown live on national television.
The semi-official China News Service said the case would be shown on China Central Television's Channel One from 8.35am.
The station would invite an intellectual property rights expert to co-host the programme and to explain technicalities of the case to the television audience.
The broadcast was expected to last three hours. CCTV had installed six live broadcast units and 20 audio lines in preparation.
Televised court cases have been screened before, but in the past they have been restricted to local stations.
The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court recently introduced a regulation that allowed any citizen carrying a valid identity card to attend a hearing.
The court's new open-door policy is part of larger campaign started in April by Supreme People's Court President Xiao Yang.
Mr Xiao has steadily been promoting greater transparency and honesty in the court system. He hopes gradually to open all court proceedings to public scrutiny.
Mr Xiao said before that he hoped to establish a system under which citizens would be able to file complaints against legal or ethical violations by court officials.
'The number of judges who violate the law is growing each year,' he said.
