Supreme People's Court, Circular on Revising the Jurisdiction Thresholds for Civil Intellectual Property Cases at First Instance of Local People's Courts at All Levels

Issued: January 28 2010

Effective: February 1 2010

Main contents: A higher people's court shall have jurisdiction as the court of first instance for any civil case relating to intellectual property that involves a disputed amount of at least Rmb200 million, or that involves a disputed amount of at least Rmb100 million and the place of domicile of one party is not within its jurisdiction or a party from overseas, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan is involved (Article 1). A basic-level people's court that has been designated by the Supreme People's Court as having jurisdiction over general civil cases relating to intellectual property shall have jurisdiction as the court of first instance for any general civil case relating to intellectual property that involves a disputed amount of less than Rmb5 million, or that involves a disputed amount of between Rmb5 million (inclusive) and Rmb10 million, and the places of domicile of the parties are within the jurisdiction of its superior higher or intermediate people's court (Article 3). In determining the jurisdiction of the court of first instance for special civil cases relating to intellectual property such as dispute cases involving patents, new species of plants, integrated circuit layout design, recognition of well-known trade marks and monopoly, the special provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the jurisdiction over the said cases shall be complied with (Article 5).