According to the 2014 annual report from the Supreme People’s Court, the IP tribunal under the Supreme People’s Court received 481 new IP cases, of which there were 192 patent cases, 8 cases of new plant varieties, 148 trademark cases, 56 copyright cases, 3 anti-trust cases, 9 business secret cases, 16 unfair competition cases, 26 IP contract cases and 23 other cases. A total of 490 IP cases were concluded in the year of 2014.
The report indicates that the growth of total case numbers slowed down though there was an increase of new type and difficult cases. Cases relating to patent technologies still held a large proportion. There were more patent civil cases involving infringement and some cases relating to standards.
With regard to other IP areas, more administrative cases in trademarks were related to obtaining of trademark right, judgment of distinctiveness of 3D marks. In copyright area, the overall growth of cases also slowed down. In unfair competition, there were a high percentage of cases related to network technology and new business model.
