Intellectual property cases reach new high

China’s courts handled a record 152,072 intellectual property cases last year, with 70 percent of them heard in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, along with Beijing and Shanghai municipalities.

“IP disputes in places where the economy is developing quickly have been booming,” said Song Xiaoming, chief judge of the top court’s tribunal that deals with IP matters.

To help people from home and abroad better understand intellectual property procedures in China, the top court has called on courts at every level to open their doors to public scrutiny.

For example, the top court publicly heard a series of cases involving former NBA superstar Michael Jordan in April last year, inviting legal experts, IP specialists and journalists to observe hearings.

Song, the judge, said similar

were handled by the courts in 2016

important IP disputes have been heard in a transparent way — “and we’ve asked courts to post more classic and influential cases to enhance public awareness about the protection of IP rights”.

All categories combined — civil, criminal and administrative — increased by about 16 percent yearon-year, according to a report released by the Supreme People’s Court on Monday.

Civil cases involving intellectual property increased the most, up by 24 percent year-on-year. About 87,000 of the disputes had to do with copyright infringement, which climbed 30 percent, the top court said.