The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (China) has proposed a bill to inaugurate three (3) Intellectual Property (IP) Courts in predetermined geographical areas. The Courts are strategically proposed to be in predominant IP hubs of China: Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. It is rumored that the bill will be introduced to the legal committee of National People’s Congress in China expeditiously. The proposed bill is detailed for the IP Court to be a mid-level court, similar to the United States Federal District Court here in the United States.
The Intellectual Property Court will only accept patent, plant variety, know-how (trade secret), semiconductor mask work and other complex IP cases and Administrative Appeals. The aforementioned IP Court in Beijing particularly will hear cases appealed from the State IP Office and the Trademark Office. A decision in the IP Court in Beijing can be further judicially appealed in a High People’s Court located in Beijing, a court similar to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) here in the United States.
Statistics indicate that IP litigation cases in China for 2013 comprise as follows: 9,195 Patent cases, 23,272 Trademark cases, 51,351 Copyright cases, 949 Contract cases, 1,302 Unfair competition cases and 2,514 cases for other IP matters. This effectuates a total case load of 88,583 Intellectual Property Litigation cases in 2013.