Protection of patent right in China follows a two-track system, namely the administrative track and the judicial track. For the administrative track, complaints are filed through the local intellectual property offices. However, in most cases, administrative agencies cannot award compensation to a rights holder, but only fine the infringer, seize goods or equipment used in manufacturing products, and/or obtain information about the source of goods being distributed. They can also serve to mediate a dispute before instituting legal actions. Appeals of administrative orders by the administrative agencies, such as fines, are generally made to the Administrative Divisions of the supervising Higher People’s Courts. Appeals of the mediation results by the administrative agencies, such as damages, are generally made to the Civil Divisions of the supervising Higher People’s Courts.

It’s a good news that a court specializing in intellectual property rights (IPR) opened in Beijing on Nov. 6, 2014, in the latest effort to effectively handle IPR conflicts. The court, which has four hearing rooms, has selected 22 of its 30judges, each have an average 10 years experience of IPR cases. The court will mainly hear administrative cases, in which plaintiffs sue authorities over IPR violations. The establishment of the court is in line with a proposal by the Supreme People's Court, which was approved in Aug. 2014 by China's top legislature, to set up three special courts for IPR cases. The other two, which will mainly deal with civil cases, are opened in Shanghai and Guangzhou by the end of 2014. Chinese courts hear about 110,000 IPR cases annually and this is expected to increase.

However, the total volume of civil patent litigation (i.e. through the judicial track) in China is considerably less than that trough the administrative track because small companies may prefer to pursue the administrative track due to the higher cost involved in the judicial litigations. Foreign patentees, nevertheless, should seek protection in the judicial track due to the complete pre-litigation measures, such as preliminary injunctions, preservation of evidence and preliminary attachments offered by the judicial litigations.