First Beijing IPR court to open in November

A court that specializes in intellectual property rights cases will open in the Chinese capital Beijing in November. The Beijing News reports that on November 2nd, the Standing Committee of the Beijing People’s Congress appointed Su Chi (57), the associate magistrate in one of Beijing’s intermediate courts, to be the first chief magistrate of the Beijing IPR court.

“We have appointed other members of the court including judges and passed necessary resolutions that follow.” “The Beijing IPR is the first in the country and as we have finalized all the necessary preparations for it, we are anticipating only for the opening of the court,” a representative of the Beijing IPR told the Beijing News.

In relation, Zhou Qiang, Chief Justice of the High People’s Court in Beijing said, “This court will be designated as an intermediate court and will take exclusive responsibility on IPR related cases.” The Court of Appeals of the Beijing IPR Court will be designated to the High People’s Court in Beijing, the chief magistrate explains.

The premier appellate of China, the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, reports that in August that courts that will focus solely on IPR related cases will be established in three cities, mainly Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Chinese authorities explain that, “With economic and societal growth, we have seen a steep increase of IPR related filed cases. Considering the 2009 to 2012 period alone, the court has amassed 226,753 cases.” “As the nature of IPR cases are quite complicated and delicate, the establishment of the IPR court was decided on by the 12th National People’s Congress in August. Japan and Russia has established their own IPR courts in 2005 and 2011 respectively.

The IPR court is expected to handle civil cases related to patents, new variety of flora, semiconductor blueprints, and technological skills for inquiry. China is seen to have reached the decision to establish an IPR court in order to protect research and development efforts of domestic businesses in the global market and as a response to the increased protection of IPR practices in the United States and Europe.