On April 16, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court released the “Annual Report of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (2019)” (最高人民法院知识产权法庭年度报告(2019))and “Supreme People’s Court Intellectual Property Court Judgment Essentials (2019) (Abstract Edition)”( 最高人民法院知识产权法庭裁判要旨(2019)摘要).
On January 1st, 2019, the Intellectual Property Court (知识产权法庭, “IP Court”) was officially unveiled and became the first specialized IP court at the highest court level worldwide. The IP Court exercises final instance judicial function by hearing appeals on patents, monopoly and other technology-related IP cases from across China.
The “Annual Report of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (2019)” summarizes the IP Court’s specific work in case trials, institutional reforms, judicial transparency, international exchanges, research, and external cooperation during 2019.
The “Supreme People’s Court Intellectual Property Court Judgment Essentials (2019) (Abstract Edition)” summarized 67 rules from 60 typical cases heard by the IP Court. These cases and rules reflect the philosophy, trial thinking, and judgment methods of the IP Court in handling new, difficult and complex cases in the field of technical intellectual property rights. They will also provide guidelines to courts across the country to ensure uniformity in the judgment standards for technical intellectual property cases.