A vice president of the Supreme People's Court told reporters yesterday
that the abilities of Chinese courts to protect intellectual property rights
(IPR) have constantly improved in recent years.
Xi Xiaoming said that the courts had rendered verdicts on all kinds of IPR
infringement cases, covering the creation, use, protection and management of
intellectual property.
Before the mid-1990s, IPR court cases mainly concerned technology contract
disputes. Between the mid-1990s and 2002, most IPR cases involved patent
infringement. Since 2002, copyright violation cases have soared and become the
dominant type of case, Xi said.
Xi said courts at all levels had fully used their civil, criminal and
administrative trial functions to provide comprehensive judicial protection to
IPR.
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 year-on-year.
In 2007 alone, courts concluded 2,684 criminal IPR cases, in which 4,322
defendants were convicted.
Xi said that this month has been designated to mark public awareness of IPR
protection and spark enthusiasm for innovation.
During the month, some IPR infringement cases will be tried in public and
some intellectual protection policies will be promulgated.
