Statistics show that the judicial protection for IP were further strengthened in China in 2012.
The newly revised Criminal Procedure Law clearly defined the evidence collection and obtaining by administrative enforcement departments in handling criminal cases of IP infringement. The judicial interpretations provided examination standard of judicial review of infringement on the right of communication through information network. By the end of 2012, a total of 15 courts of preliminary level and 4 intermediate courts across China started to handle IP cases through the new model of “Three-in-One”, meaning civil, administrative and criminal cases of IP tried in one tribunal.
According to the statistics, in the year of 2012, a total of 87,419 IP-related civil cases were received by people’s courts of first-instance across China, an increase of 45.99% compared with the year 2011; 2,928 were IP administrative cases. 12,794 IP criminal cases were concluded. Procuratorate agencies nationwide approved arrests relating to 5,256 IP criminal cases, an increase of 20.3% compared with the previous year. 17,244 cases were transferred for prosecution from public security authorities, rising by 203.1% . The Battle launched by the Ministry of Public Security settled over 44,000 cases valuing 11.314 billion Renminbi yuan in total. Customs nationwide detained a total of 15,000 batches of cargoes suspicious of IP infringement. The customs also received 4,379 applications for recordation of IP. SAIC at all levels across the nation dispatched a total number of 1,527,300 persons, inspected 390,450 various markets like wholesales and retail market and fairs. 7,339 places were removed due to manufacturing or selling of counterfeit commodities. 120,040 infringement or counterfeiting cases were investigated and settled. The amount of fines was 851,000,000 Renminbi yuan. Over 112,000 cases relating to free-rider of brand were investigated.
Local IP administration across the country received a total of 2,510 patent disputes and investigated 6,512 cases involved counterfeiting patents. During the “Swordnet Operation”, the copyright offices all levels investigated and settled 282 case relating to the online infringement and piracy and shut down 129 websites.
