49 grass-roots courts approved to hear some IPR civil cases

 "As of the end of this May, 49 grass-roots courts have been approved to hear some IPR civil cases and the jurisdiction system of IPR cases has been improved," revealed Xi Xiaoming, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court.

It is reported that since 2001, the SPC has promulgated 21 IPR-related judicial interpretations, covering network copyright, technology contract, unfair competition, IPR crimes, etc..

At present, IPR tribunals have been specially set up in higher courts, most intermediate courts and the grass-roots courts that have acquired the jurisdiction of IPR civil cases and a batch of experienced judges have been appointed to engage in IPR case trial.

The primary statistics of 2006 showed that 172 IPR tribunals were separately set up, 140 IPR collegial panels were specially set up and 1,667 judges practiced IPR case trial. [Chinese version is available on Legal Daily]