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Intellectual property right law cases are increasing in China. Nine intermediate people's courts and 14 courts at district- and county-levels established special tribunals to deal with intellectual property right (IPR) related cases of all kinds by the end of October this year, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

The special tribunals handle cases involving civil, administrative and criminal disputes on IPR issues.

Previous IPR cases were dealt with by civil, administrative and criminal tribunals according to their natures and procedures. If an IPR case involved two or three disputes, it had to be heard in different tribunals, which was repetitious, wasted procedural costs and compromised judicial efficiency.

The Compendium of National Intellectual Property Strategy first formally issued by the Chinese government on June 5 said the country would continue to improve IPR trials and litigation systems so judicial protection could play a leading role.

"China will research and establish special unified tribunals to deal with IPR cases," the Compendium says.

The Pudong District People's Court in Shanghai took the lead in the country to set up a special IPR tribunal in 1995.

That same year the court received a typical IPR case. The Shanghai Razor Blade Co Ltd of the Gillette Company was involved in several disputes after its trademark was infringed upon.

The disputes involved several lawsuits against local businesses, government departments and other companies. Previously several tribunals would have been needed to deal with the case, however the Shanghai special IPR tribunal was able to handle it all.

Chen Huizhen, chief of the Pudong court IP tribunal, says a unified tribunal improves efficiency and reduces the workload for the courts.

"At the same time it makes full use of the expertise of our IPR tribunal staff," Chen says.

After Shanghai, courts in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong Province also set up similar IPR tribunals.

Liu Chuntian, an IPR professor with Renmin University of China, says because judges have different approaches to applying the law, there have been conflicts especially in sentences handed down by civil and criminal tribunals on single IPR cases.

"The shaping of a special IPR tribunal is critical to root out such conflicts in civil and criminal trials," Liu says.

In June 2003, a patent dispute in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, had to wait for nearly two years before a final verdict was given due to the complicated procedures among the tribunals and administrative departments involved.

"Such redundant procedures which delay IPR lawsuits are urgent issues that need to be solved," Liu says.

As the reform deepens, judges dealing with IPR cases are taking more initiatives.

When dealing with IPR cases, judges from tribunals of civil, administrative and criminal courts all participate as a panel.

In cases that are extremely specialized in nature, a jury member with strong technical background will also be invited for the hearing.

SPC vice-president Xi Xiaoming says the court reforms have allowed the practice to be promoted in other courts in need of IPR trial improvements.

Xi also says the abilities of Chinese courts to protect patent rights have constantly improved in recent years.

From 2001 to 2007, courts received 77,463 civil IPR cases, of which 74,200 had been concluded.

From January to September this year, courts initially received 18,545 civil IPR cases, up 39 percent over same period last year.

In 2007 alone, courts concluded 2,684 criminal IPR cases, in which 4,322 defendants were convicted.

Xi says that the courts had rendered verdicts on all kinds of IPR infringement cases, covering the creation, use, protection and management of intellectual property.

To date the SPC has designated dozens of courts to handle specific IPR cases, including 71 courts on patent violations, 38 on new plant varieties and 43 on layout-designs of integrated circuits.

November also saw a month long campaign to mark public awareness of IPR judicial protection and to spark enthusiasm for judicial innovations.

Courts at different levels have held open hearings on a number of major IPR cases, inviting delegates to the People's Congress, members of consultative committees as well as other important social figures to sit in on the hearings.

By November 24 courts nationwide tried 962 IPR cases including 444 copyright and 243 trademark disputes.

Editor's note: The IPR Special is sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office and published by China Business Weekly. To contact the Intellectual Property Office, the IPR Special hotlines are 8610-64995422 or 8610-64995826, and the e-mail address is ipr@chinadaily.com.cn.