Establishment of Intellectual Property Courts in 4 Cities having Jurisdiction over Cases across Different Regions (Feb-2017)

Further to the establishment of Intellectual Property Courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou at the end of 2014, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued "Response from the SPC with regard to the establishment of dedicated judicial divisions within the Intermediate People's Courts in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu and the authorization of jurisdiction over a portion of intellectual property cases beyond regions" as of January 5, and agreed to establish an IP dedicated judicial division in each of the Intermediate People's Courts of the above four cities.

The Chengdu Intellectual Property Court and the Wuhan Intellectual Property Court exercise their jurisdiction over civil cases (first instance) and administrative cases (first instance) concerning intellectual property rights of patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit designs, trade secrets, computer software, recognition of well-known trademarks, and prevention of unfair competition conflicts across all of Sichuan Province and Hubei Province, respectively, and over civil cases (first instance) and administrative cases (first instance) concerning intellectual property rights of trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition, and technology contract conflicts within Chengdu and Wuhan, respectively.

Nanjing Intellectual Property Court exercises jurisdiction over civil cases (first instance) (where the amount presented in a lawsuit involving a trademark, copyright, or unfair competition case is over 3 million RMB) and administrative cases (first instance) concerning intellectual property rights in nine regions, including Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

Suzhou Intellectual Property Court exercises jurisdiction over civil cases (first instance) (where the amount presented in a lawsuit involving a trademark, copyright, unfair competition, or technology contract dispute is over 3 million RMB) and administrative cases (first instance) concerning intellectual property rights within four regions, including Suzhou and Wuxi.

To date, the Nanjing Intellectual Property Court, the Suzhou Intellectual Property Court, and the Chengdu IP judicial division have been inaugurated.

(China Intellectual Property News, revised version)