Comprising tiers of specialized intellectual property (IP) courts within its court system, China bifurcated judicial and administrative proceedings for those seeking to protect and enforce against a patent infringement. The judicial route is more commonly used first which would see a case pass through the Intermediate People’s Courts, High People’s Courts, and ultimately, the Supreme People’s Court.
The administrative route operates through a local IP office or, if the case is of national significance, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) to request administrative enforcement, such as requests to cease infringement and to issue administrative penalties, but notably no damages are awarded through this route. A patentee or an interested-party may take the administrative route first and then the judicial route, but, but they cannot be undertaken concurrently. An administrative proceeding is much shorter and cheaper than a judicial proceeding. Read more