Basic Information of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People‘s Court

Basic Information of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People‘s Court

I.Background and process of the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court

In November 2017，General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the first meeting of the Central Leading Team for Comprehensively Deepening Reform of the 19th CPC Central Committee，which deliberated and approved the Opinions on Several Issues concerning Strengthening Reform and Innovation in Intellectual Property Trials requiring to “research on the establishment of a national-level appellate trial mechanism for intellectual property cases”.  In February 2018，the Comprehensively Deepening Reform Commission of the CPC Central Committee made it a key mission of the reform in 2018，which should be implemented under the lead of the Supreme People‘s Court.

The President of the Supreme People‘s Court，Zhou Qiang，gave repeated instructions on the organization of the backbone of the judicial force to study and draft optional plans. On the basis of summarizing the judicial practice in intellectual property，the Supreme People’s Court and the relevant parties had fully demonstrated and repeatedly studied the establishment of the national-level trial mechanism for intellectual property appeals，and finally chosen to establish the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People‘s Court of China in Beijing to conduct unified trial of cases of appeal on patent and other intellectual property rights nationwide，and formulated a relevant draft of the reform. The draft was submitted to the Comprehensively Deepening Reform Commission of the CPC Central Committee，and was approved.

To ensure that the reform was carried out in an orderly manner，the Supreme People‘s Court drafted relevant bills. On October 26，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.  On December 3，the 1756th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People‘s Court discussed and approved the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People’s Court，which further clarified such issues as the scope of cases and the linking of legal procedures.

The Supreme People‘s Court attached great importance to the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court，and President Zhou Qiang put forward the requirements of “high starting point，high standard and high level”of this Court. The operations team，personnel team，and support team headed by three leaders of the Supreme People’s Court were established to clarify the division of tasks，and strengthen synergistic advancement. All relevant departments formulated detailed plans，established work records，and assigned responsibilities to specific persons on a daily basis according to strict standards and schedules. A series of construction work such as site selection and decoration，personnel selection，the upgrade of office and case handling systems，and logistics support measures were completed in just 40 days.

II.Significance of the Establishment of the Court

The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People‘s Court is a significant decision made by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core from the strategic height of developing a powerful nation in terms of intellectual property as well as science and technology. It is a major measure to comprehensively deepen judicial reform，a historic breakthrough of China’s intellectual property protection and litigation system，and an important milestone in the development history of the judicial protection of intellectual property rights in China.It is of great and far-reaching significance for accelerating the process of modernizing the intellectual property trial systems and trial capabilities.

Firstly，it is conducive to stimulating and protecting scientific and technological innovation. Innovation is the primary driving force for development，and intellectual property protection is the basic means to stimulate innovation. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered into a new era. China is accelerating its steps to be an innovative country.  It is urgent to establish the national-level trial mechanism for intellectual property appeals which can give full play to the functional roles of intellectual property trial in motivating and protecting innovation，and promoting technological progress and social development.  The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People‘s Courtis to protect innovation in an innovative way，optimize the judicial environment for technological innovation，accelerate the implementation of the Innovation-driven Development Strategy，and make positive contributions to realize the “Two Centennial Goals”and to develop a powerful nation in terms of intellecl property as well as science and technology.

Secondly，it is conducive to creating a sound business environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out the significance of property protection，especially intellectual property protection，in shaping a sound business environment. He emphasizes that strengthening intellectual property rights protection is the most important content to improve the property protection system，and it is also the biggest incentive to improve China‘s economic competitiveness. The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People’s Court means to promote reform with the reformational thinking，to strengthen the law-based protection of intellectual property of both Chinese and foreign enterprises equally，to promote the formation of a law-based，international and convenient business environment，to better serve both domestic and international situations，and to promote the formation of a new pattern of overall opening-up.

Thirdly，it is conducive to unifying and regulating the criteria of trial. Patent and other intellectual property cases feature a high professional technologies and complexity with many new and complicated cases. Under the current trial system，the validity of intellectual property rights is decided through administrative invalidation procedures，while disputes over intellectual property infringement are solved through civil litigation procedures. Moreover，the trial of the second-instance patent infringement cases by various high people‘s courts would lead to the problem of inconsistent trial criteria.  The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People’s Court is to solve problems in a problem-oriented manner，to realize the linking of the two major litigation procedures and trial criteria for validity judgment and infringement judgment of the intellectual property cases，to solve the problem of inconsistent trial criteria restricting science and technology innovation in terms of mechanism，to improve the quality and efficiency of the trial of intellectual property cases，to strengthen the judicial protection of intellectual property，and to effectively improve the judicial public credibility.

III.Main Duties of the Court

The Intellectual Property Court of Supreme People‘s Court is a standing judicial organ dispatched by the Supreme People’s Court，with the jurisdiction of civil and administrative cases on appeal over patents，monopoly，etc.  with professional technologies nationwide.  It shoulders the significant mission of unifying the trial criteria of patent and other intellectual property cases，and of accelerating the implementation of the Innovation-driven Development Strategy.  By means of specialized trial，centralized jurisdiction，intensive proceedings and professional personnel，the Court provides strong judicial support and service for developing aa powerful nation in terms of intellectual property as well as science and technology.

In the beginning，the Intellectual Property Court will consist of four departments including the First Chamber，the Second Chamber，the Litigation Service Center，and the General Affairs Office.  Among them，the First Chamber will also be named as the Technical Investigation Office，responsible for the daily management of the technical investigation officers.  The Court will adhere to the principle that “Judging by Trying，and Responsible for Judging”，will fully implement the judicial responsibility system，will further promote the comprehensive reform of the judicial system，and will constantly improve the mechanism for the operation and supervision of trials.

IV.Plan for the future

As for the result of every mission，ten percent lies in the deployment while ninety percent will be in the implementation.  We must take implementation as the primary political task，focus on the central government‘s decisions and deployment，focus on new situations and new issues in deepening the reform of intellectual property trial，focus on overcoming the shortcomings of major systems，and earnestly put the effort on giving practical ideas and doing practical work to achieve real results.  We must deal with all the work relating to the national-level trial mechanism for intellectual property appeals in a sound，practical and meticulous way，constantly deepen the judicial reform，make the reform a success by improving the quality and efficiency of case trying and the judicial public credibility，and ensure that the central government’s decisions and deployments well implemented.

The Intellectual Property Court will further promote the development of intelligent courts，promote the in-depth use of modern technological means，and embed work essentials，time limits，process standards，and document samples into an integrated information platform to achieve interconnection of the case handling systems，automatic data transfer，resource sharing，and convenient litigation for the parties concerned. We will deepen the comprehensive reform of the judicial system，adhere to the flattened organizational structure，and achieve optimized coordination，streamlined operations and high efficiency.  We will endeavor to cultivate a group of intellectual property judges with firm political beliefs，a clear understanding of the overall interests，an excellent knowledge of laws and technology，as well as an international perspective，who will respond to the warm concerns of all walks of life in both China and abroad with fair，efficient，professional and authoritative judgments.

The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court embodies the political wisdom of concerned senior leaders，the general consensus of all walks of life，the urgent call from the frontline of technological innovation，as well as the deep affections and expectations of several generations of people who engaged in intellectual property protection. Sticking to the Reform and Opening-up policy in the new era and centering on the goal of “Delivering Equality and Justice in Every Case”，the people‘s courts will do the best to build the Intellectual Property Court into a booster for technological innovation，a testing field of the judicial reform，a bellwether of patent trial，and a preferred court for international litigation.

The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court is a fruitful result of the great practice of the judicial system with Chinese characteristics in the new era and also a gift presented by the people‘s courts to the 40th anniversary of Reform and Opening-up policy.  It will surely open a new chapter in China’s intellectual property trial history.  In 2022，the Supreme People‘s Court will report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the work of the Intellectual Property Court and present its excellent achievements for the society.

Material for the press conference of the State Council Information Office

Source: court.gov.cn

Editor: Dora