Intellectual Property Owners hosted a great webinar on “China’s New IP Courts: What U.S. Companies Need to Know.” Speakers include Benjamin Bai from Allen & Overy, Gang Hu from CCPIT Patent and Trademark Office, and me (Mark Cohen).   The program occurred on December 2 at 12:00 noon. The fee was  $130.00. The content is available on line.

Here’s a recent blog I did for the University of Nottingham on the same topic.

As I noted in the webinar and the blog, the IP Courts are a bit of a misnomer.  The lion’s share of iP litigation (trademark. copyright) will not be handled by them.  The new courts are, however, closely related to judicial reform efforts.   Moreover, the courts are closely related to what China understands to be “innovation” – including utility models, and design patents, and excluding most copyright claims.  The fact that only technical trade secrets are protected and not business secrets such as marketing plans or client lists, underscores that these courts are not comprehensive IP courts but are targeted at China’s innovative sectors — as China understands them.

Mark