China establishes Cyberspace Court in Hangzhou as part of its legal reforms

HANGZHOU - The Central Chinese Government approved the establishment of the first cyberspace court in China.  The Cyberspace Court has been established in Hangzhou, capital of China's Zhejiang province and home to many technology companies, to cater to an increasing number of internet-related disputes.

In a Client Alert, lawyers Baker McKenzie say two key features of the Cyberspace Court distinguish it from other courts:-

 1. Cases are tried online; and

 2. The court only hears internet-related disputes.

Establishment  of the Cyberspace Court follows a successful pilot which started in April 2015, when Zhejiang Higher People's Court confirmed three district courts in Hangzhou - Xihu, Binjiang and Yuhang - as pilot courts to go online to hear e-commerce cases.

 In August 2015, the "E-commerce Online Court of Zhejiang Court" officially went online. Parties can file complaints via the internet after registration and real name authentication.

BM says the Cyberspace Court has accepted about 1,500 complaints since its inception.  Its jurisdiction is limited to Hangzhou, and to civil disputes involving online shopping, online debt contracts and online copyright.

Generally, the jurisdiction of the court is issue specific and governed by the PRC Civil Procedures Law, although the extent of its applicability to the Cyberspace Court is still unclear.

The Cyberspace Court has jurisdiction to hear the following types of cases:

§ Online shopping contract disputes: disputes arising from the signing or performance of a contract where a seller has made a sale offer online and a buyer has accepted the purchase commitment.

 § Online shopping product liability disputes: disputes arising from personal injury or property damage caused by defective products bought online, and the buyer is seeking tort liability from the product seller or manufacturer.

§ Online service contract disputes: disputes arising from the signing or performance of a contract where internet service providers provide consumers with access to third party services or content services. Disputes relating to the provision of general online services by non-internet service providers are excluded.

 § Online loan contract disputes: disputes arising from repayment of loans and interests of financial loan contracts or small loan contracts formed online with financial or small loan institutions. Disputes arising from repayment of loans and interests of loan contracts not entered into with financial or small loan institutions are excluded.

§ Online copyright disputes: disputes relating to the infringement of right of communication through information network of a copyright work. Excluded are disputes that include other non-copyright related claims in addition to the infringement of right of communication through information network of a copyright work, for example, unfair competition.  www.bakermckenzie.com (ATI).