The first ever standalone intellectual property rights (IPR) courts in Shanghai were officially unveiled to the public recently.
Located at Pudong New Area, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Rights Court will be one of the three IPR courts recently established in China after the Supreme Peoples Court approved proposal last August by the top legislature of the country where they will handle all the IPR cases of the city courts.
Recent figures shows that there has been a 25 percent increase in IPR cases in the city where the accepted IPR cases in local courts in 2013 reached up to 6.656 - a 12 percent increase since 2012. The Shanghai police were known to have handled 2,589 cases related to counterfeit and infringement - a 77 percent increase since 2012.
All of these increase ratings were related to stricter polices and crackdowns on intellectual property crimes.
Also unveiled were the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate Peoples Court, also in Pudong, and the third branch of the Prosecutor's Office in Zhabei District making them China's first cross-region court and procurator. The court is also a part of the country's judicial reform to decrease the interference of local government on administrative litigation, including cross-region, major civil and commercial cases. Other cases that will be under Shanghai Number 3 Intermediate Peoples Court are environmental protection cases and food and drug safety cases.
Appointed to serve as the president of the IPR court and the Number 3 Intermediate Peoples Court is the former vice president of the Shanghai Higher Peoples Court, Wu Xielin. He stated that the new courts will be responsible for all civil and administrative IPR cases in the city and that the intermediate courts will no longer handle such cases.
These three judicial offices are scheduled to open to the public after the New Year holiday.
Other IPR courts opened in the past two months are in Beijing, Guangzhou and South China's Guangdong Provinces.