The Supreme People's Court ("SPC") recently issued the Several Provisions on Evidence in Civil Intellectual Property Lawsuits (the "Provisions") for implementation as of November 18, 2020.

The Provisions, comprising 33 articles, mainly improve the systems of evidence submission, proof obstruction, evidence preservation, judicial evaluation and other aspects. Among others, the Provisions state that, where the party who bears the burden of proof applies in writing to the people's court for ordering the opposing party controlling the evidence to submit the evidence, and if the grounds for application exist, the People's Court shall make a ruling and order that party to submit the evidence. Where the People's Court legally requires a party to submit the relevant evidence, but such party refuses to submit without justified reasons, or submits false evidence, destroys the evidence, or performs other acts that render the evidence useless, the People's Court may presume that the opposing party's claim on the issues to be proved under the said evidence is tenable. Meanwhile, the People's Court, in evidence preservation, shall minimize the damage to the value of the subject matter of preservation and the impact on the regular production and operation of the evidence holder under the premise of effective preservation of the evidence. The Provisions also specify the confidentiality measures that the People's Court may take, and the subjects whose access to relevant evidence shall be restricted.

(Source: Supreme People's Court)