Editing Intellectual property in China (section)

=== Courts and tribunals ===
In the 1980s, Chinese courts and regulators began to enforce intellectual property protections on the basis international treaties China had signed before corresponding domestic IP laws were yet in place.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=216}}

The number of IP cases prosecuted criminally in Chinese courts has been on a significant upward trend from 2005 to 2015,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bao |first=Yingyu |date=2018 |title=Statistics and Characteristics Analysis of China's Intellectual Property Crimes |url=https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/matecconf/abs/2018/87/matecconf_cas2018_05013/matecconf_cas2018_05013.html |journal=MATEC Web of Conferences |language=en |volume=228 |pages=05013 |doi=10.1051/matecconf/201822805013 |issn=2261-236X |doi-access=free}}</ref> suggesting tougher enforcement of IP laws.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=169}}

In patent litigation, infringement and invalidation claims generally proceed separately rather than being addressed at the same trial.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=140}} Foreign firms have been increasingly successful in litigating patent infringement suits in China, winning approximately 70% of the time in the period 2006 to 2011, and rising to approximately 80% in the late 2010s.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|pages=169–170}}

Since 2008, filings for patent and trademark protection by both Chinese and national firms have skyrocketed, leading to increased government focus on IP protection, including establishing specialized intellectual property courts to more effectively resolve disputes.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=169}}

In October 2014, the [[Supreme People's Court]] provided additional regulatory guidance on specialized intellectual property court jurisdiction.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.chinacourt.org/law/detail/2014/10/id/147980.shtml|title=Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Jurisdiction of Intellectual Property Courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou|last=Supreme People's Court|date=October 31, 2014|access-date=April 13, 2020}}</ref> The specialized IP courts sit at the intermediate court level and have first instance jurisdiction over all technically complex civil and administrative IP cases (including patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout designs, trade secrets, and computer software). They also have first instance jurisdiction over well-known trademarks and deal with all other IP cases upon appeal from the basic people's courts in their province.86 In terms of administrative law, the [[Beijing Intellectual Property Court]] also has special, first-instance jurisdiction over administrative appeals brought against decisions issued by administrative IP adjudication bodies.<ref name=":0" /> Since 2017, the system has expanded to include 20 specialized IP tribunals across the country.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Weightman|first=William|date=2020-01-01|title=Is the Emperor Still Far Away? Centralization, Professionalization, and Uniformity in China's Intellectual Property Reforms, 19 UIC Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 145 (2020)|url=https://repository.jmls.edu/ripl/vol19/iss2/3|journal=The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law|volume=19|issue=2|issn=1930-8140}}</ref> Although these tribunals are administratively a part of the intermediate people's court in their city, they have cross-regional and exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over IP cases—similar to the IP courts established in 2014.<ref name=":1" />

In 2019, the city of [[Hangzhou]] established a pilot program artificial intelligence-based Internet Court to adjudicate internet-related intellectual property claims as well as ecommerce disputes.<ref name=":9222">{{Cite book |last=Šimalčík |first=Matej |title=Contemporary China: a New Superpower? |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-03-239508-1 |editor-last=Kironska |editor-first=Kristina |chapter=Rule by Law |pages=114–127 |doi=10.4324/9781003350064-12 |editor-last2=Turscanyi |editor-first2=Richard Q.}}</ref>{{Rp|page=124}} Parties appear before the court via videoconference and AI evaluates the evidence presented and applies relevant legal standards.<ref name=":9222" />{{Rp|page=124}}