China tags top court to tackle intellectual property rights as US trade war rages

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.