China's First Specialised IP Court Starts Operations in Beijing
China has launched its first specialised court, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court (BIPC), for adjudication of intellectual property-related matters. Immediately upon BIPC's commencement of operations on 6 November 2014, the intermediate courts of the Beijing municipality have ceased to accept any IP-related civil and administrative cases.
However, for those cases, as of 5 November 2014, which have been filed with an intermediate court in Beijing but have not yet been concluded, or whose filings are pending after relevant materials have been submitted to an intermediate court in Beijing, they will continue to be handled by the relevant intermediate court.
Beijing's history of hearing IP cases dates back to 1993 when the country's first IP tribunal was set up within Beijing First Intermediate People's Court. By now, the high court, all of the three intermediate courts, and eleven of the basic courts in Beijing
The establishment of BIPC was in accordance with a decision promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China on 31 August 2014. Two additional IP courts are expected to open, one in Shanghai and the other in Guangzhou, by the end of this year.
