Grassroots courts to hear patent disputes

More grassroots courts will be allowed to hear patent lawsuits starting on Monday in the latest measure to tackle the rising number of intellectual property disputes in China.

A judicial interpretation released on Sunday includes an article that allows the Supreme People's Court, the top court in China, to designate the jurisdiction of patent lawsuits to a grassroots court.

The sole stipulation enables the grassroots courts, where "conditions are ripe", to help hear civil patent disputes when the higher level of courts are shorthanded. Previously, judicial rulings about patent disputes were restricted to the intermediate and higher people's courts.