Adopted at the Tenth Session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress Standing Committee on 31 August 2014
To facilitate implementation of China’s innovation-driven development strategy, further enhance the judicial protection of intellectual property rights, safeguard the lawful rights of rights-holders according to law and maintain social and public interests, and pursuant to the Constitution and the Law on the Organisation of People’s Courts, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee have decided as follows:
1.Specialised intellectual property courts shall be established in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The divisions of the intellectual property courts shall be decided by the Supreme People’s Court upon consideration of the types and volume of intellectual property cases.
2.The intellectual property courts shall have jurisdiction over technical civil and administrative cases of first instance involving patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout design, technical secret, etc.
Administrative cases of first instance filed by persons dissatisfied with the ruling or decision of administrative bodies under the State Council on matters related to the granting or determination of intellectual property rights shall fall under the jurisdiction of Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
The intellectual property courts shall exercise cross-regional jurisdiction for cases under Paragraph 1. During the first three years of establishment, the intellectual property courts may, for the time being, exercise cross-regional jurisdiction in the province or municipalities where they are located.
3.Appeals against the first-instance civil or administrative rulings or decisions on intellectual property cases such as copyright and trademark cases by the basic people’s court in the city where the intellectual property court is located shall be heard by the intellectual property court.
4.Appeals against the first-instance ruling or decisions by intellectual property courts shall be heard by the High People’s Court at the locality of the intellectual property court.
5.The adjudication work of intellectual property courts is subject to the legal oversight of the Supreme People’s Court and the High People’s Court at the place where the intellectual property court is located.
6.The president of intellectual property court shall be appointed or dismissed by the Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress, based as recommended by the Chairpersons Meeting of the said Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress at the locality of the intellectual property court.
The vice presidents, presiding judges, judges and members of the adjudication committee of the court shall be appointed or dismissed by the Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress at the locality of the intellectual property court, as recommended by the court president.
The intellectual property courts shall be answerable to the Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress at the court’s locality.
7.This decision shall be implemented for three years, upon which time the Supreme People’s Court shall report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the status of implementation.
8.This decision becomes effective upon announcement.
