BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- People's courts in China registered 4,319 new criminal cases of intellectual property right (IPR) infringements last year, up 19.28 percent year on year, according to a source with the Supreme People's Court (SPC).
Meanwhile, 4,064 such cases were concluded at courts across China in 2018, up 11.59 percent year on year, said Lin Guanghai, an SPC judge responsible for IPR cases, at a State Council Information Office press conference Wednesday.
Lin said the figures showed that punishment plays an increasingly obvious role in targeting criminal acts of IPR infringement and counterfeiting.
China's courts, through trials of IPR cases, have fully played a leading role in judicial protection of IPR and contributed to the creation of a good business environment that honors the rule of law, as well as a favorable environment conducive to scientific and technological innovation and cultural prosperity, he said.
Courts in China have handled the most IPR cases in the world, especially patent cases, with their credibility and influence in the international protection of IPR increasingly recognized, Lin said.
In an increasing number of IPR cases, the foreign party voluntarily chooses the Chinese mainland court as the venue of trial, the SPC judge noted, saying China had evolved to become a "preferred venue" for settling international disputes in this regard.
Other than the IPR tribunal at the SPC, China has 19 local IPR tribunals with cross-regional jurisdiction, created to hear civil and administrative IPR cases involving patents and highly specialized technologies, and to ensure trials of technological cases are handled in an timely, effective manner and with unified standards, according to Lin.
