[Jian Xu] A very encouraging progress - China approved the set up of specialised IP courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

China announced yesterday on 31 August 2014 that it approved the decision to set up specialised intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. This is perhaps the most welcoming change of the Chinese IP system in recent years.  Firstly, the quality and consistency of trials for intellectual property infringement matters will improve. Secondly, it facilitates intellectual property enforcement since those three courts will have jurisdiction over several provinces based on its geography as opposed to the currently dispersed jurisdiction on a city by city level.

However, it remains to be seen how or whether the enforcement of judgments will be improved by the set up of specialised IP courts. Enforcement of judgments is a practical issue in China, both for domestic and foreign right holders. It is not clear whether the specialised IP courts will have power to enforcement judgments by themselves, or rely on the local courts in each cities for the enforcement. If the former, it will again improve the quality and consistency of enforcing court judgments. If the latter, there might be more hurdles such as whether the local courts will prioritise, or at least give equal importance to the enforcement IP court judgments compared to their own.

I will continue monitor the progress of specialised IP courts in China and give updates from time to time. It is by far, a very encouraging step in China toward better and more professional  intellectual property environment.