Supreme People's Court, Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases (2009) (Abstract)

(Issued by the Supreme People's Court on April 22 2010.)

With the thorough implementation of the Civil Procedure Law following the further improvement and revision of the mechanism for judicial protection of intellectual property, the number of intellectual property cases accepted by the intellectual property division of the Supreme People's Court has continued to rise, the number of concluded cases has increased substantially and the intellectual property trial supervision and professional guidance functions of the Supreme People's Court have been effectively brought to bear. In 2009, the intellectual property division of the Supreme People's Court accepted a total of 297 various new intellectual property cases which, together with the 143 cases left over from 2008, gives a total of 440 various cases that were pending, an increase of 33.7% as compared to 2008; and it concluded the trial of 390 various intellectual property cases, an increase of 111.96% as compared to 2008. The following are the distinguishing features that were characteristic of these intellectual property cases: an increase in the number of new-type cases and important complicated and difficult cases; intensification of the technical nature of the cases; and a rise in the percentage of foreign-related cases. New-type, complex and difficult cases are continuously pushing the boundaries of the law, engendering new areas that need to be regulated by the law and placing greater and stronger new demands on the judiciary. The Supreme People's Court has, through the hearing of and ruling on cases, extensively studied new problems and new areas and given responses in a timely manner. The rulings in these individual cases show the creative efforts of the Supreme People's Court in maintaining harmony between stability of and change in the law, keeping a balance between private interests and public interests and realising a unity in legal effect and social effect. Based on a distillation of its experience in issuing the first Supreme People's Court, Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases (2008), this year, the Supreme People's Court has carefully selected from among the intellectual property cases on which it has rendered final conclusive opinions 37 typical cases that have a general guiding significance, prepared this annual report using a new writing format and is making it available to the public at large.

I. Trial of Patent Cases