The Intellectual Property (IP) Tribunal began to operate on Jan. 1 in Beijing. The appeal court falls under the Supreme People's Court. Zhou Qiang, CPC secretary and president of the Supreme People's Court, attended the inauguration ceremony.
Leading by Luo Dongchuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court and president of the IP Tribunal, all judges of the new court took the oath of office with Zhou as the oath administrator.
The IP Tribunal handles appeal cases related to IP that require strong expertise, such as civil and administrative cases concerning invention patents, utility model patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout designs, technological secrets, computer software, and monopoly. Appeals of judgments by high people's courts, intermediate people's courts and IP courts at lower levels, and administrative cases from the Beijing IP Court will be submitted to the IP Tribunal. The tribunal has six court rooms.
Zhou said it is necessary for the tribunal to play its important role, unify judicial criteria on IP cases, protect IP rights, and guarantee the implementation of national strategies on innovation-driven development. The tribunal will adhere to justice and give play to the specialization of the judicial institution, personnel and work. And it will make use of information technology and solve existing problems within the system, such as different judicial criteria and complicated litigation procedures, etc.
The IP Tribunal is a permanent judicial institution set up in Beijing by the Supreme People's Court following plans by the central government.
In November 2017, an act on the reform of court trials relating to IP cases was passed in the first plenary session of the 19th Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission in order to create a mechanism for appeals and hearings of IP cases at the top level.
On Nov. 19, 2018, the central authority formally gave approval to the Supreme People's Court to establish an appeal court to hear nationwide cases. The government also required the Supreme People's Court to enact regulations on the tribunal. The corresponding regulations were announced on Dec. 28, 2018.
Apart from the regulations, the judicial panel was also established a few days ago. The IP Tribunal judicial panel consists of a president, several vice presidents, and a number of senior judges to discuss major, difficult, and complicates cases.
On Dec. 29, 2018, the president, vice presidents, and other judges were appointed in the 7th Session of the 13th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Luo Dongchuan was appointed as the president of the IP Tribute under the Supreme People's Court, and Wang Chuang, Zhou Xiang, and Li Jian were appointed as the vice presidents.
Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, said the tribunal will fully exercise the power of final adjudication of administrative IP cases and maintain a seamless connection between litigation procedures and judicial criteria on IP property validity and violation. The tribunal will explore and improve the compensation system on IP rights infringement and strengthen punishment on IP rights violations.
Zhou added that the Supreme People's Court will actively deepen the judicial system reform, improve the system of IP rights protection with Chinese characteristics, actively explore the scientific operational mechanism of judicial power, and summarize its reform results in a timely manner.
