The Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Jurisdiction of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou Intellectual Property Courts were promulgated on 31 Oct. 2014 and entered into force on 3 Nov. 2014.

There are eight articles in total, which aim to stipulate the jurisdiction of the three intellectual property courts in China.

The key points are as follows:

1.In 2014, China set up three intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to hear first-instance intellectual property civil and administrative cases with strong technical features. (see the Decision on Establishing Intellectual Property Courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress).

2.Intellectual property courts shall have jurisdiction over first-instance cases in the following fields:

(1) Civil and administrative cases of patents, new varieties of plants, layout design of integrated circuits, technical secrets, and computer software;

(2) Administrative cases involving copyright, trademark, unfair competition and other administrative acts by departments under the State Council or the local people’s government at or above the county level;

(3) Civil cases involving the recognition of well-known trademarks.

3.In addition, Beijing Intellectual Property Court shall have jurisdiction over first-instance administrative cases in the following fields:

(1) Refusing to accept the ruling or decision on the authorization and confirmation of intellectual property rights made by departments under the State Council;

(2) Refusing to accept the decision on compulsory license of intellectual property and the ruling on royalties or remuneration of compulsory license made by departments under the State Council.