Finally a unified “Court of Appeal” for technology IP in China
On October 26, 2018, China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) received approval to establish a specialized intellectual property court within the SPC to handle appeal cases involving technology-related IP for both civil (e.g., patent infringement) and administrative (e.g., patent invalidity) judgments. Technology-related IP includes invention patents, utility models, new plant species, IC design, trade secret, software, and anti-trust cases. [1]
On December 28, 2018, the SPC announced the opening of this new SPC IP Court on January 1, 2019, and laid out some details surrounding how things would work [2]. We have summarized some of the details below.
The SPC IP Court is based in Beijing and its judgments, rulings, mediations, and decisions are the judgments, rulings, mediations, and decisions of the Supreme People’s Court (the highest court in China).
The SPC IP Court hears the following cases:
All appeals arising from technology-related IP “first instance[3]” judgments in civil or administrative cases arising out of the intermediate courts, high courts, IP courts
Major and complicated first instance cases
Other cases the SPC determines should be tried by the SPC IP Court
Major, difficult, or complicated cases shall be discussed by a panel consisting of the President, Vice President, and a number of senior judges
The SPC IP Court will use several electronic litigation platforms or online video to facilitate several aspects of litigations, including the serving or transfer of litigation documents, evidence, conducting pre-trial meetings, evidence exchanges, and more.
Prior basic people’s courts who had been given authority to accept first-instance technology-related IP cases will no longer accept those cases. All technology-related IP cases will be first filed at the intermediate court level.
Additional provisions describe the rules and appeals process for ongoing cases. In summary, first instance judgments decided after January 1, 2019 can appeal directly to the new SPC IP Court.
Benefits
The creation of this SPC level court and the access it provides is monumental news for IP owners around the world. The landscape has fundamentally changed from before, when access to the SPC was done on a discretionary basis. Complicated IP cases can be resolved more efficiently, more cost-effectively, and with greater consistency and quality. Most importantly, all technology-related IP cases have the legal right to be heard by this SPC IP Court as a second-instance decision[4].
Greater Consistency
The creation of this court is likely to provide harmonized IP decisions at the appeals level by creating a “unified” appeals court for technology-related IP, addressing previous inconsistencies that arose between different provincial High Courts. Additionally, this new SPC IP Court will be the final court of appeal for both invalidation and infringement proceedings[5], similar to the current function of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC).
Under the previous system, parties not pleased with the results of a first judgment (first instance), could appeal to a higher court (intermediate courts or high courts) within the jurisdiction for a second instance (final) decision. Unfortunately, the higher courts have varied in their judgments over the years, leading to inconsistencies across the country on various IP issues.[6] In fact, many have been asking for years for the creation of a single IP court to handle appeals decisions, so this is a welcomed change for so many reasons.
Higher Quality Decisions
Some of the country’s most respected and experienced IP judges have been tapped to lead this court, which should hopefully lead to higher quality and more consistent IP decisions for the country.
Furthermore, all technology-related IP matters now must be initially filed at the intermediate court level[7], a change from the past when certain basic people’s courts had been given authority to handle first instance technology-related IP cases. This should further increase quality and consistency of IP rulings in China.
These latest changes, together with the ever-evolving growth of China’s larger IP court system (see below), will continue to improve the quality of IP court decisions coming out of China.
Major Developments in China’s IP Landscape
The change described above is only one of several major changes in IP that have been sweeping through the Chinese court systems in the past 5 years. In 2014 China created specialized IP intermediate-level courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to handle technology-related IP disputes.
Between 2017 and 2018, China created over a dozen specialized IP Tribunals in multiple different jurisdictions all across China. These IP Tribunals are associated with the intermediate courts in their respective locations, though some have jurisdictions that reach a larger territorial scope (such as the entire province) depending on the locations of the other IP Tribunals. China continues to create more of these IP Tribunals throughout China, hopefully one day providing everyone with a “local” intermediate court in which to file technology-related IP lawsuits.
This creation of an SPC level unified appellate court is an important component that fits very well into China’s larger goal of creating a specialized IP court system that can efficiently, consistently, and effectively rule on the many complex technology-related IP disputes in the country.
It will be very interesting to see how the new SPC IP Court handles its first several cases. The world is watching, and if the judgments really seem more consistent, fair, and beneficial to patentees, more and more innovation companies, both domestically and worldwide, will see China as a strong, efficient, and beneficial place in which to conduct patent litigation.
Jennifer Che, J.D. is a US Patent Attorney and Vice President and Partner at Eagle IP, a Boutique Patent Firm with offices in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Macau.[email protected]
-------------------------------------------------
[3] China operates under a two instance system, which means a party is typically only entitled to two trials (essentially, one appeal) on a matter. The second instance is the final decision. Additional appeals are subject to the court’s discretion.[4] China operates under a two instance system, which means a party is typically only entitled to two trials (essentially, one appeal) on a matter. The second instance is the final decision. Additional appeals are subject to the court’s discretion.[5] China has a bifurcated legal system where patent infringement and patent invalidation cases are heard by separate entities. Patent infringement cases are first heard by the people’s court (first instance) which can then be appealed to a second instance case either at the SPC IP Court (new system) or the High Court within the jurisdiction (old system). Patent invalidation decisions are first heard by the Patent Re-examination Board of the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration or the Chinese Patent Office) before they are appealed to a first instance case at the Beijing IP Court, which can be further appealed to a second instance case either to the SPC IP Court (new system) or the Beijing High Court (old system).[6] Unlike the US, a common law legal system where judges are bound by precedential case law, China is a civil law country, where previous decisions by a higher court cannot be used as binding legal interpretation for lower courts. This leads to a potential for large inconsistencies between courts.[7] Non-technology-related IP cases, such as design, trademark, and copyright cases, will still go through traditional court channels.
Other Articles
Inventive Step for an Enantiomer over a Racemate: “L-ornidazole” Patent Invalidation Case
27 November 2023
Each year, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issues its annual “Judgment Digests”, which includes a list of “48 typical cases” highlighting representative SPC decisions in the previous year. The Judgment Digests help us understand more about the SPC’s judicial ideology, trial concepts, and adjudication methods in dealing with difficult and sophisticated legal issues as well […]
Read more >
IP Strategies for the Newly Released Implementation Regulations of the 4th Amendment of the Chinese Patent Law: Part 1: Delayed Examination
25 January 2024
December 2023 appears to have been an exceptionally busy and fruitful month in the China patent space. Following the State Council’s approval of the long-awaited Patent Law Implementation Regulations (“Regulations”, similar to the CFR in the US) in November, the CNIPA finally made public the full text of the Regulations just before the arrival of […]
Read more >
China’s Newest Examination Guidelines: Post-Filing Supplemental Data for Compounds (Part I)
28 April 2021
Post-filing data in China has been a constant issue for many patent practitioners around the world. Examiners seem to require it often, and yet the rules regarding when it is acceptable have seemed much stricter than other jurisdictions worldwide. In fact, we tried to summarize the latest state of the law in an earlier blog […]
Read more >
Breaking: China Released Drug Trial Data Protection Implementation Measures
22 May 2026
On May 15, 2026, China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) officially announced the final Measures for the Implementation of Drug Trial Data Protection (“Measures”), effective May 15, 2026. These Measures provide important details supporting the recently announced Implementing Regulations of the Drug Administration Law (“Regulations” – also effective May 15, 2026), which formally introduced a […]
Read more >
Our Past Events
Eagle IP to Participate in AIPLA 2026 Spring Meeting in San Francisco
8 May 2026
Eagle IP has been named as the Winner of the LSPN Cross-Border Collaboration Partner of the Year Award at the LSPN Awards USA 2026
8 May 2026
Eagle IP to Attend INTA 2026 Annual Meeting in London
2 May 2026
Eagle IP’s Jennifer Che to Attend LSPN North America Spring 2026 in Boston
29 April 2026
Pauli Wong to Share IP Strategy Insights at HKLSS Entrepreneurship Series 2026
25 April 2026
Eagle IP and HKSTP Host AIPLA Women in IP Global Networking Event
