IP Courts and the Worldwide Trend toward Specialization

• Date: 01 March 2024
• Author: Yuri Fancher Machado, Maria Eduarda de O. Borrelli Junqueira, and Weixian Zhu

IP Courts and the Worldwide Trend toward Specialization Published in Landslide, Volume 16, Number 3, 2024. © 2024 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. R ecognizing that intellectual property (IP) assets are crucial tools for driving innovation and promoting growth of the global economy and involve legal complexities, numerous countries have either implemented or are contemplating the establishment of specialized courts. For example, most of the European Union (EU) member states have introduced either a specialized IP court or specialized IP divisions within the general courts, including many in Central and Eastern European countries like Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. Some non-EU Eastern European countries, including Azerbaijan and Belarus, have also introduced specialized IP courts or divisions. 1 Further-more, since April 1, 2023, the Unified Patent Court has been in existence. This specialized court is designed to harmonize patent law across the EU, representing the first supranational jurisdiction in Europe for civil law matters. 2 Likewise, Canada, Japan, Thailand, and many other countries have adopted a similar approach to specialization. Despite the global trend toward specialization, specialized IP courts can differ significantly in their scope depending on the jurisdiction. Some, for example, focus solely on patent disputes, while others address specific legal issues like IP rights validity; and they are increasingly wrestling with complex disputes that interrelate with advanced technologies and specific issues within various industries. Their roles also vary, with some serving as trial courts and others as appellate bodies, empowered to review lower court decisions. Thus, grasping the mechanics of specialized IP courts in a certain area can be highly advantageous for IP owners, particularly when dealing with global disputes. This article examines the influence of specialized IP courts in Brazil and China, considering the extensive and solidified commercial partnership between both countries and their recent cooperation in the areas of science, technology, education, and culture 3 —areas that unequivocally are related to the IP field. Specialized IP Courts in Brazil Brazil is one of the major countries in the world in terms of territorial size and population, with a size of 8,510,000 km 2 and over 214 million inhabitants. The numbers in the judiciary are similarly numerous: in 2022, there were over 31 million new cases filed before the judiciary in the various fields of law—a remarkable Yuri Fancher Machado, Maria Eduarda de O. Borrelli Junqueira, and Weixian Zhu Yuri Fancher Machado is a partner at Montaury Pimenta Machado & Vieira de Mello in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he assists clients from different industry and technology sectors in protecting their intellectual property, with particular emphasis on complex intellectual property litigation and online brand protection. He can be reached at yuri@montaury. com.br. Maria Eduarda de O. Borrelli Junqueira is a partner at Montaury Pimenta Machado & Vieira de Mello in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her experience includes handling complex litigation matters involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, domain names, designs, and unfair competition law. She can be reached at maria.junqueira@montaury.com.br. Weixian Zhu is a partner at Tiantai Law’s Shanghai office, where he focuses his practice on intellectual litigation and data compliance and litigation. He can be reached at zhuweixian@ tiantailaw.com. Published in Landslide, Volume 16, Number 3, 2024. © 2024 by the American Bar...