SHANGHAI - Shanghai courts concluded 23,000 cases of first instance related to intellectual property rights (IPR) in 2019, up 9.6 percent year on year, said the third session of the municipal people's congress on Saturday.

Shanghai has strengthened the effectiveness and timeliness of its judicial system, it said.

The city has implemented a system of punitive damages for repeated and malicious infringements to raise the penalties for illegal acts.

China has intensified the clampdown on IPR infringements to better protect parties' rights and interests. Nationwide, Chinese courts concluded 288,000 IPR cases of first instance in 2018, marking a year-on-year increase of 41.8 percent.