Publication Date:21 April 2022
On 21 April, the SPC held a press conference during the 2022 intellectual property publicity week and issued a report on the status of the protection of Intellectual Property Rights by Chinese Courts in 2021. The report set out the achievements in judicial protection of IP rights in the past year, focusing in particular on the following.
During the year, the SPC issued several judicial interpretations, including the Interpretation on the Application of Punitive Damages in the Trial of Intellectual Property Infringement Civil Cases; the Provisions on Several Issues concerning the Application of the Law in Civil Cases relating to applications for Patent Rights in respect of Pharmaceutical Products; and the Several Provisions on the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases relating to Plant Variety Rights Infringement (II), etc., The Interpretations seek to unify adjudication standards, which will help the Courts deal effectively with new problems and challenges that may arise in the field of Intellectual Property.
A total of 642,968 IP-related cases were accepted by the courts, including first and second instance cases as well as retrial cases, and 601,544 cases were concluded (including carried-over cases from last year), representing a year-on-year increase of 22.33% and 14.7% respectively.
The SPC collaborated actively in the work being done to crack down on IP infringement and counterfeiting. It established communication and liaison mechanisms with the CNIPA and the National Anti-monopoly Bureau to facilitate an effective interface between administrative enforcement and the judiciary. In addition, it gave full play to the online litigation and mediation facility jointly established with the CNIPA. Over 20,000 IP cases were assigned to this platform by local courts for pre-litigation mediation.
The SPC also formulated and issued the Plan for Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property by People's Courts (2021-2025), which defines the goals, tasks, and measures of judicial protection of Intellectual Property Rights for the next five years in China.
Source: https://www.court.gov.cn/upload/file/2022/04/21/16/19/20220421161909_81490.pdf
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