On 20 Apr. 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the “Several Provisions on the Jurisdiction of Civil and Administrative First-Instance Cases of Intellectual Property” (《关于第一审知识产权民事、行政案件管辖的若干规定》, hereinafter referred to as the “Provisions”), which took effect on 1 May 2022.
The main purpose of the Provisions is to concentrate the jurisdiction over intellectual property (IP) cases in courts with sufficient professional competency.
The Provisions divides the jurisdiction over IP cases into three categories:
(1) For highly-technical, significant, difficult, and complicated IP cases:
These cases are under the jurisdiction of the IP courts nationwide, the intermediate people’s courts in provincial capitals, as well as the intermediate people’s courts designated by the SPC.
Cases of this type may involve invention patents, utility model patents, new plant varieties, layout designs of integrated circuits, technology secrets, computer software ownership, infringement disputes, and monopoly disputes.
(2) For IP cases with a certain degree of specialization:
These cases are under the jurisdiction of IP courts and immediate people’s courts nationwide, as well as the primary people’s courts designated by the SPC.
Cases of this type include disputes over the ownership or infringement of design patents and conflicts over the recognition of well-known trademarks.
(3) For ordinary IP cases:
These cases are under the jurisdiction of intermediate people’s courts nationwide or the primary people’s courts designated by the SPC.
Cases of this type may include disputes arising from copyright contracts, copyright ownership, copyright infringement, trade secret contracts, and so on.
Cover Photo by Lavinia Occeña on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
