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Specialised IP courts introduced

The National People's Congress has established specialised IP courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The Supreme People's Court (SPC) will decide on the types and number of cases, and the Beijing IP court will hear first instance appeals of validity and invalidity decisions of State Council IP agencies. The courts will have cross-border jurisdiction of the types of cases determined by the SPC and will be supervised by the SPC, the local high court and the procuratorate.

Source:
China IPR

While this is good news, the legislation requires clarity on certain details. It states that the courts will hear technically complex first instance civil matters and administrative appeals, including patents, technical trade secrets, plant varieties and semiconductor layout designs. However, there is no legal definition of a technical trade secret, and copyright cases can be more technically complex than the examples given above. It is also unclear whether anti-monopoly cases qualify as technically complex. The fact that the presidents of the local IP courts will be appointed by the local people's congress leaves open the risk of protectionism. It appears that these IP courts will be the first instance courts for foreigners' trademark and copyright cases, but whether they have cross-border jurisdiction – which would be effective – remains unclear. The legislation also commits Beijing to hearing administrative and civil IP cases in one specialised court, which is useful for foreigners who bring many administrative cases.