Good Rating For Chinese IP Courts

Fears that Chinese courts are protectionist, biased and anti-foreigner are misplaced, writes Jack Ellis, blogging on the IAM website. On the contrary, he says, “data on patent litigation in China’s courts may actually highlight it as a favourable jurisdiction for foreign entities to assert their patents.” These conclusions stem from a study of 471 Chinese court cases that were decided over the years 2006 to 2011. The study found that foreign IP litigants did as well or better than Chinese litigants, and that any protectionism was typically in smaller provincial courts and counteracted by the fact it was fairly easy to appeal to one of the major venues.