On August 31, 2014, the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress passed “Decision on the Establishment of Intellectual Property Courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou” (hereinafter, "Decision").

On October 27,2014, the Supreme People's Court released“Regulationson the Jurisdiction of Intellectual Property Courtsin Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou”, which made clear regulations on the jurisdiction and trial-level relations of the Intellectual PropertyCourts, including practical issues such as jurisdiction of first instance, cross regional jurisdiction, exclusive jurisdiction, jurisdiction of second instance, appellate jurisdiction and the handling of pending cases.

On November 6, 2014,Beijing Intellectual Property Court,which is China's first Court dedicatedtoIntellectual Property cases, began to perform its duty, and hadaccepted 221 cases in the first month.Subsequently, Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court was established on December 12, and Shanghai Intellectual Property Court was established on December 29, 2016.

The establishment of Intellectual PropertyCourts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is a pilot project. According to regulations, the Supreme People's Court shall report the implementation of the "Decision" issued by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress after it has been implemented for three years. Based on previous experience, there is no doubt that China will set up more Intellectual PropertyCourts to hear technical cases, including the establishment of a national appellate court that uniformly accepts technical intellectual property rights cases of second instance.