China considers national appeals court on intellectual property rights: paper

[BEIJING] China is considering a national appeals court specialising in intellectual property rights, the China Daily has cited a senior Chinese judge as saying, as the world's second-largest economy tightens regulation of patents and trademarks.

"(We) shall make the establishment of a national-level IPR court of appeals a national strategy," Tao Kaiyuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), reportedly said during a conference in Beijing on Friday.

The SPC would come up with a more detailed plan after consultation, according to the official China Daily, citing Mr Tao's comments at the conference.

A leading group of senior judges would coordinate judicial reform in IPR cases in the region around Beijing and Hebei province, she said.

China filed 1 million patent applications last year, becoming the first country to reach that level in a single year, according to a global industry watchdog.

Chinese courts heard 133,863 IPR cases in 2014, 19.5 per cent more than the year before, the paper said, citing a judicial IPR white paper.

The suggestion for a national appeals court comes two years after specialised IPR courts were established in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, leading to a significant improvement in IPR regulation.

According to Mr Tao, the three courts have heard more than 30,000 cases in the past two years.

REUTERS