On January 1, 2019, a new IP-focused tribunal within the Supreme People's Court (SPC) ("IP tribunal") was established in Beijing to hear second-instance cases involving patent and other complex technical IP matters. The IP tribunal will hear cases that are appealed from across China, from both the civil decisions of first-instance courts and administrative decisions of the Patent Re-examination Board (PRB) of the Chinese National IP Administration (CNIPA, patent office of China) and others. The IP tribunal is intended to unify IP judicial standards and improve the quality and efficiency of trials in IP cases. This development is regarded as a major step toward a national IP appellate court and is expected to greatly change China’s IP protections in the coming years.