The rapidly developing internet economy is creating new requirements for judicial protection of intellectual property, legal experts said at a symposium that kicked off in Shanghai on Nov 26.

The number of IP disputes in the internet field rose from 203 in 2016 to 879 in 2018 in Jiangsu province, the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court said. The number of such disputes more than doubled from the previous year and reached nearly 108,00 last year, according to the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People's Court.

"Disputes in computer software as well as big-data technology, mobile games and apps arising from new technologies and new business models have become prevalent these years and are urging judges to acquire new knowledge and skills in dealing with such cases," said Liu Yuanzhen, vice-president of the Jiangsu provincial court said during the International Symposium on Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the New Era.

Chinese courts have also been increasingly relying on internet technologies to handle such cases, judges said.

For example, last year, 54 percent of the IP disputes in the internet field in Hangzhou, Zhejiang were handled online by the Hangzhou Internet Court. This has in turn reduced the duration of tribunals from 56 minutes in physical court to 36 minutes on the online platform, according to the Zhejiang provincial court.

Liu Xiaoyun, president of the Shanghai Higher People's Court, said at the symposium that Shanghai is gathering pace in its efforts to build itself into a hub for IP protection in the Asia Pacific region.

"Over the past five years, Shanghai courts have initiated around 20 instances of communication and cooperation in IP protection with organizations from the United States and Europe, and they all gave their thumbs up for Shanghai's progress in this aspect," he said.

The symposium, which is being held by the Chinese Courts International Exchanges Base (Shanghai) for Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and the Science and Technology Innovation Research (Shanghai) Base for Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property of the Supreme People's Court, will conclude on Wednesday.