By Ms. Jiao Ren, Lawyer and Partner of Chofn IP
On 6 November 2024, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court (BIPC), one of China' s four specialized IP courts, celebrated its 10th anniversary and released White Paper on the Judicial Work of Beijing Intellectual Property Court in the Past Ten Years (2014-2024) (“White Paper”).
The White Paper includes six parts, namely, Overview of the Court and Its Trial Data, Typical Cases and Adjudication Rules, Protection Effectiveness and Achievements, Judicial Reform and Mechanism Innovation, Talent Cultivation and Team-building, and Foreign-related Cases and International Exchanges, to sum up the BIPC' s achievements and experiences, reform and team building, during the past ten years.
From November 2014 through October 2024, the BIPC accepted 201,984 cases and concluded 195,506 ones, with continuous growth in cases accepted in the first eight years and a slight decline in the last two years. Out of the accepted cases, 74.01% are administrative cases and 25.99% civil cases. In terms of the IPR types, 10.88% are patent cases, 68.04% trademark, 18.39% copyright, and 1.86% competition cases (including anti-unfair competition, anti-monopoly, franchise contracts, and network domain names).
Of the two major types, namely patent and trademark, the relevant data is as follows.
- The patent cases accepted include 14,503 administrative cases of patent granting and confirmation, accounting for 65.99% of the number of patent cases accepted, and 7,010 patent civil cases, accounting for 31.90%. The patent administrative cases concluded include 852 cases of revoking the administrative decisions in question, accounting for 6.21%.
- The trademark cases accepted include 132,989 administrative cases of trademark granting and confirmation, accounting for 96.77% of the accepted trademark cases, and 3,117 trademark civil cases, accounting for 2.27%. The trademark administrative cases concluded include 29,117 cases of revoking the administrative decisions in question, accounting for 21.89%.
Since its establishment, 283 of its cases have been awarded prizes of different types and at all levels, or included in casebooks, and 75 cases have been selected as typical cases of IP protection by the Supreme People' s Court (SPC).
The BIPC has increased protection efforts to curb the infringement and dishonest conducts, including issuing the Reference for the Application of Punitive Damages in Civil Disputes Involving Intellectual Property Infringement and applying punitive damages in 16 cases since the enforcement of the punitive damage system in the IP field, with an average compensation amount of CNY12.308 million, and a maximum award of CNY70.56 million; actively adopting temporary protective measures in accordance with the law; and severely cracking down on dishonest conducts by imposing fine for false evidence against the trademark owner in trademark cancellation appeal cases, etc.
Over the past 10 years, the BIPC heard 36,201 foreign-related IP cases, representing 17.92% of its caseload, with parties from over 100 countries and regions. In addition, the BIPC released the Reference for Notarization and Legalisation of Subject Qualification Certificates in Foreign-related Cases in Chinese and English, covering 18 major countries, which offers clear guidance for foreign parties participating in litigation in Chinese courts.
The BIPC has made a major contribution to the development of IP trials in China, and the White Paper summarizes the data and achievements and points out the way forward for better IP protection in China as well.
Encl.: White Paper on the Judicial Work of Beijing Intellectual Property Court in the Past Ten Years (2014-2024) in English.
