China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) will start to hear intellectual property rights (IPR) appeals that require more expertise from Jan. 1, 2019, according to a judicial regulation published Saturday.

The SPC will set up an IPR court that handles complex appeals such as patent cases, said the regulation on the IPR court published by the SPC at a press conference.

As a permanent division under the SPC, the IPR court will be made up of four departments and will soon start formal operation, said Luo Dongchuan, vice president of the SPC and chief of the IPR court, at the press conference.

IPR cases refer to a broad range of lawsuits such as patents, copyright, trademarks, new plant varieties, integrated circuit layout design and monopoly.

Due to the complexity of IPR cases and expertise needed for their trials, the SPC IPR court will help prevent inconsistency of legal application and improve the quality and efficiency of trials, Luo said.

The IPR court will also help nurture a favorable legal environment for technological innovation and a better business environment for domestic and international enterprises, he said.

According to the regulation, the IPR court will try to conduct trial proceedings online, such as exchanging evidence or hosting pretrial conferences.

Chinese courts heard a total of 213,480 IPR cases in 2017, 40.4 percent more than in 2016, and double the number of those heard in 2013.

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