China achieved new progress in providing judicial protection for intellectual property, or IP, with a more efficient trial system for IP-related cases in 2019, according to a report released on April 26, the World Intellectual Property Day.

The report, which is about China's IP protection and business environment, was released at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office. Li Jian, head of the No 3 Civil Court of the Supreme People’ Court (SPC), attended the conference along with other officials from related government agencies.

The report says that during the past year the SPC expedited the reform of its trial system for IP-related cases, elevating the system's professional level and further integrating IP-related civil, administrative and criminal trials.

"People's courts have given full play to IP-related trials," said Li. “The trials have galvanized innovations, promoted cultural development, maintained fair competition, increased entrepreneurs and innovators' confidence, and raised the creativity of the whole society.”

Last January, the SPC set up a dedicated IP court responsible for hearing technical IP-related appeals from across the country. With two more local courts establishing IP courts in 2019, there are currently 21 local courts with IP arms nationwide.

Over the past year, Chinese courts accepted more than 480,000 IP-related cases, over 470,000 of which had been concluded, a 40 percent increase from a year earlier.