Excerpts from the Annual Report of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court of China

Basic case data
In 2021, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court accepted a total of 5,238 intellectual property and monopoly cases (4,335 new cases) involving technological issues, and concluded 3,460 cases, with a settlement ratio of 79.8%. The Tribunal accepted 17.8% of the cases in the court (with the number of civil cases of second-instance accounting for 68%, and administrative cases of second-instance accounting for 100%). The newly accepted cases of the Tribunal accounted for 16.4%, and the number of concluded cases accounted for 13.5% of the court’s total. Compared with the same period in 2020, the number of newly accepted cases increased by 1,158, with a growth rate of 36.4%; and the number of closed cases increased by 673, with a growth rate of 24.1%.

Case Classification Data
Among the 2,569 newly accepted civil cases of second-instance, the cases of infringement of invention patent rights, computer software disputes, patent application rights and patent ownership disputes, technical secret disputes, and new plant variety rights disputes increased significantly. Whereas cases related with jurisdiction objection declined in numbers.

Among the 1,290 newly accepted administrative cases of second-instance, the number of disputes involving the re-examination on rejection of invention patent applications and the disputes over the invalidation of invention patent rights has increased the most. For the first time, the court accepted disputes over the authorization and confirmation of new plant varieties and administrative disputes over monopoly.

Ruling result data
Among the 3,460 civil and administrative cases concluded, the maintenance rate was 65.7%; the dismissal rate was 14.7%, and the mediation rate was 5.7%; 468 cases were concluded by remand for retrial or re-ruling, accounting for 13.5%. The re-examination rate was 0.8%, a significant decrease from 2.2% in the previous year.

Among the 2,023 civil cases of second-instance concluded, the maintenance rate was 49.6%; 440 cases were closed by withdrawal, 198 cases were closed by mediation, and the overall dismissal rate was 31.5%; and 381 cases were closed by remand or revised judgment, with the rate being 18.8%. The rate of revision of judgments for civil cases was 4.8%.

Among the 971 administrative cases of second-instance concluded, the maintenance rate was 88.8%; the withdrawal rate was 4.4%; 64 cases were closed by remand for retrial or re-ruling, with the rate being 6.6%.

Overall characteristics of cases
First, the number of civil and administrative cases has continued to grow, which fully reflects the strong demand for judicial protection of intellectual property rights due to technological development.

Second, the frontier fields of technology are expanding. A large number of new types of disputes have emerged. More than a quarter of the cases involve strategic emerging industries such as new-generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection, new materials, and new energy. Courts are keeping pace with scientific and technological advance, which is a guarantee for effective protection of IPRs.

Third, inter-country litigations are more commonly seen. The number of foreign-related cases accepted by the courts continues to grow rapidly, and domestic litigations in some cases is intertwined with foreign litigations. The role of intellectual property rights as a strategic resource for national development and a core element of international competitiveness has become increasingly prominent.

Fourth, region distribution of cases is more divided. Most of the cases are in economically developed and industrial clustered areas. More than half of the cases accepted by courts are from the three intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. However, there are also some central and western regions (such as Zhengzhou, Chengdu, and Wuhan) where the number of cases is growing rapidly. The number of related cases heard by local courts and cases that require accurate understanding of multi-level value orientations has increased significantly, and the importance and urgency of strengthening policy guidance and work coordination across the country are increasing.