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2 January 2019Patents

China’s inaugural IP appeal court opens for business

A new IP appeal court in China that was set up to handle highly technical cases has begun operating.

Based in Beijing, the court opened for business yesterday, January 1, two months after plans to launch it were revealed.

The court, which falls under the remit of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), is called the SPC IP Tribunal. It will oversee disputes on patents, plant varieties and computer software, among other areas, but not trademarks or trade secrets.

China already has specialised IP courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. They were set up in 2014 to handle the increasing number of IP disputes, particularly in relation to piracy and counterfeiting. But the new court is the first standalone IP appeals body.

On December 29, the South China Morning Post quoted Zheng Wanqing, a professor at Zhejiang Gongshang University who specialises in IP protection, as saying that the new court could help to standardise the rules for handling IP cases.

In the same report, Luo Dongchuan, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, said that while the court’s creation represents China’s latest effort to protect IP rights, it has nothing to do with the trade war with the US.

The dispute between the countries originally focused on the US’s claims that China imposes forced technology transfer on foreign companies.

But as reported on December 27 by Xinhua, China’s state news agency, lawmakers are now seeking to implement a new foreign investment law that puts a stop to this.

The draft law reportedly says that conditions of technological cooperation concerning foreign investment “should be decided by all parties of investment through negotiation, and government departments and officials cannot use administrative means for forced technology transfers”.

According to a briefing attended by the South China Morning Post, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that the proposals aim to create an “open, fair and transparent” business environment for foreign companies.

The proposed law, which will replace three existing pieces of legislation, has been submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for the first reading and is available for public comment until February 24.

After both the US and China imposed tariffs on the other earlier this year, the countries have agreed to suspend any new such sanctions while diplomatic talks continue.

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25 October 2018   China is planning to create a new judicial body specifically designed to deal with IP appeals, according to a report by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.