The Intellectual Property Court: breakthrough and improvement

With the issuance of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Establishing Intellectual Property Courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and the implementation of the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Jurisdictions of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou Intellectual Property Courts, the IP courts were established in succession at Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Lawsuits filed in mainland China by foreign enterprises for IP protection, and certain IP cases filed by domestic enterprises against foreign counterparts, will be subject to the uniform jurisdiction of relevant IP courts.

According to the decision and the provisions, the scope of jurisdiction of IP courts is as follows:

1. IP Courts have jurisdiction over civil and administrative IP cases of first instance in highly technical areas such as patents, new species of plants, integrated circuits design, technical secrets and computer software, and determination of well-known trademarks;
2. Administrative cases of first instance filed against the ruling or decision made by a department of the State Council on IP grant and affirmation are subject to the jurisdiction of Beijing IP Court; and
3. An IP court has jurisdiction over appeals of civil and administrative IP cases of first instance concerning copyright, trademark appealed and other IP cases ruled by basic-level people’s courts of the municipality where the IP court is located.

Zhou Fusheng is a lawyer at Martin Hu & Partners