Beijing IP Court Briefs on Adjudication of IP Cases in 2016
Beijing Intellectual Property Court (BIPC) has recently provided some details on its adjudication of intellectual property cases in 2016 at a press briefing held on 10 January 2017. As reported, a total of 10,638 IP cases were accepted by the court during the year, representing a rise of 15.74% over 2015. Among the total IP cases accepted, 8,305 were first instances, 2,330 second instances, and 3 retrials.
Of the mentioned first instances, 1,754 were patent cases (1,104 of which related to administrative disputes), 5,969 trademark cases (5,936 of which related to administrative disputes), and 420 copyright cases (417 of which related to computer software), while the second instances comprised 7 patent cases, 156 trademark cases, 1,895 copyright cases, 43 technical contract cases, 78 unfair competition cases, and 151 cases of other types of disputes.
The report also touched on damages awarded during the year. According to incomplete statistics, BIPC awarded in 2016 average damages of RMB1.41 million for patent infringement cases, RMB1.65 million for trademark infringement cases, and RMB4.58 million for copyright infringement cases.
