The Beijing Intellectual Property Court was established on November 6, 2014. The Shanghai and Guangzhou IP courts were scheduled to be established by the end of 2014. On October 31, the Supreme People's Court issued provisions on their jurisdiction, effective from November 3. The principal provisions and explanations follow.
First-instance jurisdiction: Article 1
Within their respective cities, the IP courts hear the following first-instance cases: (1) civil and administrative cases concerning patents, new plant varieties, integrated-circuit layout designs, technical secrets and computer software; (2) administrative cases challenging acts by State Council departments or local governments at county level or above concerning copyright, trademarks or unfair competition; and (3) civil cases involving recognition of well-known trademarks.
Combining civil and administrative jurisdiction is a feature of China's IP courts. At this stage they do not hear criminal cases. The administrative cases principally concern IP-related administrative penalties and other administrative decisions. Computer-software disputes involve specialized technical fact-finding that can be difficult for grassroots courts, which explains their allocation to the IP courts.
Guangzhou's cross-regional jurisdiction: Article 2
The Guangzhou IP Court exercises jurisdiction across Guangdong Province over the cases specified in Article 1(1) and (3). This is intended to promote consistent judicial standards. The Beijing and Shanghai IP courts hear cases within their own cities and do not exercise that form of province-wide jurisdiction.
Beijing's exclusive jurisdiction: Article 5
The Beijing IP Court hears first-instance administrative cases challenging: (1) rulings or decisions of State Council departments on the grant or determination of patent, trademark, plant-variety, integrated-circuit layout-design and other IP rights; (2) compulsory-licence decisions concerning patents, plant varieties or integrated-circuit layout designs, and decisions on the related licence fees or remuneration; and (3) other administrative acts of State Council departments relating to the grant or determination of IP rights.
Grant and validity disputes are central to judicial IP protection and are therefore concentrated in Beijing. The third category includes administrative acts closely connected with grant or validity, such as refusal to accept a trademark application or renew a registration, and suspension of patent examination by SIPO.
Appeals and retrial applications: Articles 6 and 7
The IP courts hear appeals against first-instance civil and administrative judgments and rulings of grassroots courts in their cities concerning copyright, trademarks, technology contracts, unfair competition and other IP matters.
Appeals against the IP courts' own first-instance judgments and rulings, and applications for retrial submitted to the higher court as provided by law, are heard by the IP division of the relevant high people's court.
The IP courts therefore act at both first and second instance. In specialized technical cases at first instance, they establish the facts and resolve disputes. When hearing non-technical cases on appeal, they help unify the judicial standards applied by grassroots courts in their jurisdiction.