A vice president of the Supreme People's Court told reporters on Monday that the abilities of Chinese courts to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) have constantly improved in recent years.

Xi Xiaoming said that the courts had rendered verdicts on all kinds of IPR infringement cases, covering the creation, use, protection and management of intellectual property.

Before the mid-1990s, IPR court cases mainly concerned technology contract disputes. Between the mid-1990s and 2002, most IPR cases involved patent infringement. Since 2002, copyright violation cases have soared and become the dominant type of case, Xi said.

Xi said courts at all levels had fully used their civil, criminal and administrative trial functions to provide comprehensive judicial protection to IPR.

From 2001 to 2007, courts received 77,463 civil IPR cases, of which 74,200 had been concluded.

From January to September this year, courts initially received 18,545 civil IPR cases, up 39 percent year-on-year.

In 2007 alone, courts concluded 2,684 criminal IPR cases, in which 4,322 defendants were convicted.

Xi said that this month has been designated to mark public awareness of IPR protection and spark enthusiasm for innovation.

During the month, some IPR infringement cases will be tried in public and some intellectual protection policies will be promulgated.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2008)