Supreme Court of China Suggests Exploring Feasibility of an IP High Court at National Level
The Supreme People's Court of China (SPC) suggested in a recent report consideration of setting up an intellectual property high court at the national level in China.
The report called for deliberation over the pros and cons of the present dual-enforcement system for patent rights protection, that is, infringement litigation are handled by civil courts and invalidation disputes resolved through administrative procedures. In respect of this, it put forward the idea of exploring the feasibility of giving the courts that handle infringement litigation the jurisdiction over invalidation cases as well, with reference to relevant experiences abroad. According to the report, an appellate court with nationwide jurisdiction over appeals in patent cases may help consist adjudication criteria and mitigate prolonged proceedings.
In June 2014 during the review of the implementation of the Chinese Patent Law at the 9th session of the 12th National People's Congress, factors hindering the effective enforcement of patent rights protection in the country were identified. To address the issues, SPC had conducted researches and presented in the report said proposals of reforms in relation to existing IP trial modes.
