Draft on IPR Case Appeal Procedure to Improve Judicial Guarantee for Innovation

Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), stressed the construction of a national-level intellectual property right case appeals mechanism will help to improve the legal environment for scientific and technological innovation.

A draft of a proposal on patent-related litigation procedures was proposed recently by the SPC to promote innovation-driven strategy and improve the unified application of law to patent cases to provide judicial protection for China's intellectual property rights.

Zhou explained the draft on Oct 22 at the 6th Session of the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee.

He pointed out that building a national-level appeals mechanism for IPR cases was made a focus of the first meeting of the 19th Central Leading Group for Comprehensive Deepening Reform.

The mechanism strengthens IPR protection for enterprises at home and abroad and is a normative basis to improve IPR cases trial quality and efficiency, he said.

According to Zhou, cases about patents for invention and utility models will be the main appeal items of the SPC and a report summarizing the pilot work of the SPC will be released at the National People's Congress Standing Committee three years from now.

At the meeting, he also gave a detailed explanation of certain issues, including case types and trial levels, mentioned in the draft.

(Source: english.court.gov.cn)