Annual Report of the Top IP Court 2022: Growth of Cases Involving Foreign Parties

Established in 2019, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC-IPC) serves as China’s highest appellate court for civil and administrative IP cases. Over the past three years, the court has streamlined the IP litigation process by allowing litigants to bypass lower courts and appeal directly to the SPC-IPC. This has improved judicial efficiency, prevented inconsistent rulings, and optimized the legal environment for technology innovators.

On April 11, 2023, the SPC-IPC released its 2022 annual report, available in both English and Chinese on the Court’s official website.

According to the report, the SPC-IPC accepted 457 new cases involving foreign parties in 2022, making up 10.4% of all new cases, a 4.6% increase from the previous year. Between 2019 and 2022, the SPC-IPC accepted 1,444 such cases, accounting for 10.4% of all cases.

The growing number of IP disputes resolved in China, especially those between foreign entities, shows that China is becoming a preferred venue for resolving international IP disputes.

In 2022, SPC-IPC accepted 1,338 new cases involving strategic emerging industries, representing 30.4% of all new cases. This was 3.5 percentage points higher than in 2021.

Improved handling of cases has played an important role in encouraging companies to pursue innovation and development. In addition to placing increased importance on dealing with lawsuits concerning the chip and telecom industries, the IP Court has also focused more on disputes involving data-related transactions and data markets to pave the way for the growth of the digital economy.

Other key figures from the report:

The SPC-IPC accepted 6,183 technology-related appeal cases in 2022, up 18% from 2021. Since its establishment in 2019, SPC-IPC has accepted 13,863 cases and closed 11,148 cases, with an overall clearance rate of 80.4%.

In 2022, the average caseload per judge was 142.5 cases, and the average adjudication period was 165.2 days. Second-instance civil disputes took 179 days, while administrative disputes took 215 days. The average adjudication period has increased year on year, due to increased caseload and COVID-19 impacts.

In 2022, 58.8% (2,040 cases) of closed cases upheld the original judgments. The mediation and withdrawal rate was 25.8% (626 withdrawal cases and 268 mediation cases). The remand and reversal rate was 13.5% (17 remand cases and 451 reversal cases). Between 2019 and 2022, the remand and reversal rate was 12.9% (112 remand cases and 1,321 reversal cases).