On April 21, 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Jurisdiction of Intellectual Property Cases of First Instance (关于第一审知识产权民事、行政案件管辖的若干规定).

Highlights include:

First, it is stipulated that seven types of civil and administrative cases with strong technical expertise, such as invention patents, shall be under the jurisdiction of intellectual property courts, intermediate people’s courts in provincial capitals and intermediate people’s courts determined by the Supreme People’s Court, so as to focus on fair and efficient trials with strong technical expertise , major difficult and complex cases.

The second is to stipulate that the design patent ownership and infringement disputes, civil and administrative cases involving the recognition of well-known trademarks of the first instance shall be under the jurisdiction of the intellectual property court and the intermediate people’s court.

Third, except for the special types of cases specified in the “Jurisdiction Regulations”, other first-instance civil and administrative intellectual property cases are under the jurisdiction of the basic people’s courts determined by the Supreme People’s Court.

The full text of the Provisions can be found here (Chinese only).