China's Supreme People's Court released the "Decision on Revising Several Provisions Concerning the Application of Law in Hearing Patent Dispute Cases” on April 14, which states that the Supreme People's Court may, depending on actual circumstances, designate local people's courts to exercise jurisdiction over first-instance trials of patent dispute cases. The Decision came to effect on April 15, 2013.
The Decision came as part of the Chinese government's efforts to tackle rising intellectual property disputes in the country. In the "Promotion Plan for the Implementation of 2013 National Intellectual Property Strategy" released by the SIPO, it clearly states that the number of local people's courts which have jurisdiction over general intellectual property cases will be increased, and more intermediate people’s courts will be assigned to handle first-instance intellectual property cases.
(Source: Supreme Court)
