Nation's IPR suits see spike in 2012

60,000 charged with infringement, substandard products sales

Courts across China handled 83,850 civil lawsuits over intellectual property rights in 2012, up 44.1 percent year-on-year, according to an IPR white paper that the country's top court released on Monday.

Because of the rising awareness about IPR issues, courts in China also saw a sharp rise in the number of related civil lawsuits they received last year, said Sun Jungong, spokesman for the Supreme People's Court, at a news conference on Monday about the white paper.