China Designates Intellectual Property Tribunals, Modestly Expands Jurisdiction

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) has undertaken a series of minor reforms affecting the naming of tribunals that handle intellectual property cases and the jurisdiction of several local courts. The SPC announced that both the SPC's No. 3 civil tribunal and corresponding local tribunals that have been handling intellectual property disputes can use the formal title "Intellectual Property Tribunals" in addition to their other titles, according to a March 11 China News Net article (in Chinese) reposted on the Qianlong.com Web site. In a June 13, 2004 speech at the Asia Pacific Economic Forum, Jiang Zhipei, chief justice of the SPC's No. 3 civil tribunal, noted that the tribunal in question was originally created in 1996 and renamed as the No. 3 civil tribunal in 2000, but that its responsibilities for directing and supervising IP cases around the country have remained consistent throughout.

The SPC also announced that it has modestly expanded the jurisdiction of local courts to handle intellectual property cases. Since 2005, the SPC has authorized three more intermediate people's courts (IPCs) to handle IP first-instance trials of plant variety disputes, and four more IPCs to handle first-instance patent trials, according to a March 10 China Court Network article (in Chinese). China currently has 52 IPCs with trial jurisdiction over patent disputes, 37 IPCs with trial jurisdiction over plant variety disputes, and 43 IPCs with trial jurisdiction over integrated circuit disputes. As of the end of 2005, the SPC has also authorized 15 basic-level people's courts to conduct first-instance trials in IP cases.