On January 18, the Supreme People's Court promulgated the Judicial Interpretation on Several Issues Relating to Law Application to the Civil Trial of Unfair Competition Cases, which is the first judicial interpretation on the trial of unfair competition cases, will come into effect as of February 1, 2007.

The judicial interpretation has 19 articles, involving the acts of passing off others' registered trademarks, false and misleading publicity, infringing trade secrets, uttering or disseminating falsehoods to damage the goodwill of a competitor or the reputation of his goods prescribed in the Law against Unfair Competition, the application of legal responsibilities and issues related to legal procedures.

A related principal from the Supreme People's Court expressed that the judicial interpretation was formulated on the basis of new situation and problems in the courts'' trial of unfair competition cases as well as on the basis of carrying out obligations of related international treaties and summarizing experiences in the trials. It is introduced that the formulation of this judicial interpretation is of great significance to the correct trial of unfair competition cases as well as the IPR protection in future.