Cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations handled by China's courts rose rapidly after China's entry to World Trade Organization (WTO), a meeting of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) heard on Thursday.

"After China's entry to the WTO in 2001, cases of IPR violations increased rapidly and China's judicial protection for IPR also improved," said Cao Jianming, vice president of the SPC.

From 2002 to 2006, China's courts heard 54,321 civil cases of IPR violations, up 145.92 percent, and settled 52,437 cases at first instance trials, up 141.99 percent, over the five years from 1997 to 2001, SPC statistics showed.

During the same period, China's courts had heard 13,170 civil cases of IPR violation at second instance trials, up 8.93 percent, and settled 12,700 cases, up 9.55 percent, SPC statistics showed.

"After entry to the WTO, China strengthened judicial protection for IPR and a preliminary judicial protection system for IPR had already formed," Cao said.

In 2006, China had 172 special courts, 140 collegial panels and 1,667 judges handling IPR violations.

The range of IPR violations had expanded to cover network copyrights, domain names, trademarks, new plant varieties and folk arts, he said.

"These new developments reflect strong demand for judicial protection for IPR," he said.

In 2006 alone, China's courts heard 14,219 civil cases of IPR violation, up 5.92 percent from 2005, and settled 14,056 civil cases in preliminary hearings, up 4.95 percent.

"Last year, judicial system of IPR violation cases has been further improved," he said.

Source: Xinhua