The Shanghai Intellectual Property court received at least one foreign suit from every six lawsuits filed in 2015, with most complainants claiming to be victims of intellectual property infringements, according to China Daily.

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Luxury brands including Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton and Fortune 500 firms like Hewlett-Packard, General Electric and Microsoft from 15 different locations such as France, were some of the plaintiffs, the court revealed on Thursday.

Furthermore, the accusers came from 15 locations including France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Taiwan and the United States.

The court, which was established in December 2014 to handle intellectual property disputes, revealed that it received more than 1,600 cases in 2015, up 127 percent from 2014.

"IP cases have been surging at more than 20 percent year-on-year in recent years," Li Shulan, the court's vice president, said.

In 2012, a man identified with his surname Lu was sued for nearly 2 million yuan ($296,000) case for selling fake UGG boots to another man surnamed Chen. Chen then sold the goods via online shopping websites and earned nearly 2.4 million yuan.

Both of them were placed behind bars with Chen receiving four years in prison and Lu for two and a half years on grounds of selling counterfeited trademark products.

Another store selling Gucci bags in Green Milano Outlets Plaza in Shanghai was also penalized 220,000 yuan because of illicit competition. It furnished and named its store from the brand "Gucci" itself.

According to Chen Huizhen, presiding judge at the court, trademarks does not only refer to the product but also to the service offered as well. So with the Gucci bag store case, even if they were selling the original Gucci bags, misleading customers that they were an authorized outlet gives them an edge.

"The court will impose heavier compensation according to the law on violations of intellectual property as a stronger deterrent, and will increase the intensity of punishment for repeat violators and those who ignore court verdicts," Li said.

Tagsintellectual property, trademark infringement, china, Copyright