SPC president Zhou Qiang (R4) visits the newly opened Intellectual Property Court on Jan 1. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) launched an intellectual property court in Beijing on Jan 1 for better protection of intellectual property in China.

The Intellectual Property Court marks a new step to effectively safeguard IP rights and to advance innovation-driven development and plays an important role in creating a legalized, internationalized and facilitated business climate.

Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the SPC, attended the opening ceremony and visited the court.

During his visit, Zhou said the court will strengthen intellectual property protection and offer judicial assistance and guarantees for building China into a powerful country in this area.

He pointed out that the establishment of the court is intended to accept and enforce IP-related cases that involve professional knowledge in China and judicial staff with related professional knowledge will be arranged to handle such cases to improve the quality and efficiency of the trials.

He stressed that the court must guarantee the high-quality and high-efficiency of judicial trials and make judgments that can be references for similar cases internationally to improve the credibility of China's courts in intellectual property protection.

He also urged deepening of judicial cooperation and exchanges and engagement in the making of intellectual property protection rules to contribute China's experiences in this field.

Regulations on compensation for damages of intellectual property infringement must be optimized and a more intensified punishment for torts must be adopted, he said.

Deepening judicial reform, continuing to improve the IP-related judicial system, implementing judicial accountability and building a team of judges with professional IP knowledge are still musts to promote China's judicial system, Zhou added.

Chaired by Jiang Bixin, vice-president of the SPC, the event was also presented by Luo Dongchuan, president of the Intellectual Property Court, Kou Fang, acting-president of the Beijing Higher People's Court and other judicial officers from the Political and Judiciary Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the SPC and the State Intellectual Property Office.