Shanghai Intellectual Property Court Commences Operation
Following the recent launches of China's intellectual property courts in Beijing and Guangzhou respectively, the last of the country's first batch of pilot IP courts – Shanghai Intellectual Property Court – was opened on 28 December 2014.
Starting from 1 January 2015 when Shanghai IP Court commenced operation, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court and Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court have ceased accepting first- and second-instance IP civil and administrative cases. For IP civil or administrative cases which have been accepted by either of the intermediate courts but are still pending as of the date, they remain to be handled by the respective courts.
Shanghai IP Court is an intermediate-level court with four trial divisions. To date, it has appointed 14 judges through a municipality-wide open selection process. The IP court, while handles trial matters independently, shares the same office building and administrative resources as related to general management, enforcement, judicial police and logistic support with Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People's Court, which was also opened on the same day as the IP court.
