On December 3, the Chief Justice and the President of the Supreme People's Court, Zhou Qiang presided over the plenary meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court. The Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (hereinafter referred to as the Provisions) was deliberated and approved in principle.
In October 2018, the CPC Central Committee approved the Pilot Program on the Establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People's Court, approving the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court by the Supreme People's Court to uniformly try the patent and other Intellectual Property cases on appeal involving professional technologies throughout the country with an aim to promote the trial specialization, jurisdiction centralization, proceeding intensification and personnel professionalization of intellectual property cases, and provide strong judicial services and guarantee for developing a powerful nation in terms of intellectual property as well as science and technology. On October 26, 2018, the 6th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress deliberated and adopted the Decision on Several Issues Concerning Litigation Procedure of Patent and Other Intellectual Property Cases which will come into force on January 1, 2019, centralizing the jurisdiction of the civil and administrative cases on the second-instance over patent and other intellectual property rights to the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court. In order to conscientiously implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on strengthening reform and innovation in the field of intellectual property trials, further improve the intellectual property litigation system, and enhance the judicial protection of intellectual property rights, the Intellectual Property Division of the Supreme People's Court, after conscientious research, drafted the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (Draft for Comment). By seeking advice from the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, relevant High People's Courts and Intellectual Property Courts, etc., the draft has been formulated upon modifications and improvements.
The draft of the Provisions specifies the nature of organ, the litigation scope and procedure, the operational mechanism of trial power, as well as the procedures convergence of the Intellectual Property Court.
After discussion, the meeting adopted the Provisions in principle, and decided to revise the Provisions according to the discussion opinions of the meeting. After submitting for approval according to the procedure, the Provisions will be released in due course.
(The English Version is for reference only. In case of discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.)