China tags top court to tackle intellectual property rights as US trade war rages
- Applicants will be able to appeal to the Supreme People’s Court on range of issues, from software copyright to monopolies
- Move comes as technology continues to be a major source of tension in China’s trade war with the US
China plans to set up a top-level court to hear appeals in intellectual property rights (IPR) cases, in its latest attempt to address a key source of friction in the country’s trade war with the United States.
The new judicial body would come under the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and oversee appeals that involved “highly technical expertise”, particularly patents on inventions and innovations, state-run Xinhua quoted SPC president Zhou Qiang as saying.
Zhou said applicants would have a set time to appeal to the court to reverse or modify administrative or civil court decisions on new patents, integrated circuit layout design, technical know-how, computer software copyright and monopolies.
Intellectual property rights are a key issue in China’s increasingly rancorous trade war with the US.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly lashed out at China’s lax IPR protection laws, forced technology transfer and alleged IP theft, saying they cost the United States as much as US$600 billion per year.
But Beijing rejects the claim, saying China’s IP royalties to the US rose from US$3.46 billion in 2011 to US$7.2 billion last year.