Updates On China's Specialized IP Courts And Tribunals

China's National Intellectual Property Strategy Outline promulgated in 2008 proposed "to improve the trial system for intellectual property and optimize the allocation of judicial resources". Driven by this vision, China has been exploring the specialization of adjudication for IP rights in the past decade.

By the end of 2014, three specialized IP courts were formed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou – the leading metropolises of the country. From 2017, eighteen specialized IP tribunals were successively set up. In October 2018, the Standing Committee of the People's National Congress approved the Pilot Program of the Supreme People's Court on the establishment of an IP-specialized (appellate) tribunal which will begin operation on January 1, 2019 to hear appeals in civil and administrative cases of technology-related intellectual property disputes nationwide. At this point, a system of specialized IP adjudication is put in place.