China’s Xiong'an New Area Intermediate People’s Court of Heibei province has be authorized to maintain jurisdiction to hear intellectual property cases in 6 cities of the province including Baoding city, Langfang city, Qinhuangdao city, Tangshan city, Zhangjiakou city, and Chengde city, according to a notice issued by China’s Supreme People’s Court on February 14.

The intermediate court on February 1 was enabled to enter judgments on civil and administrative claims of patent inventions, utility model inventions, plant varieties, layout designs of integrated circuits, trade secrets, software copyrights, anti-competitive practices as a court of first instance.

The enforcement of the trial court’s rulings is shared by the trial court and same-level courts where the enforceable property is located, under Article 231 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China (《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》).

Xiong'an New Area is a state-level new area in the Baoding area of Hebei, China. The area has been given special economic and development support by the Chinese Central Government. The construction of the area is described as part of China’s "millennium strategy" (千年大计). Unlike other "new areas", Xiong'an's development is taking place under the direct oversight of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.