In April 2017, the Supreme People’s Court established a new cyberspace court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The court was set up to handle five types of cases, mainly related to online shopping and intellectual property rights.
The move comes after a successful pilot at four Hangzhou courts beginning in 2015. The courts were upgraded with technology that allow plaintiffs to file cases and upload evidence online and even to appear at hearings via video link if they did not live locally. Judges handling the cases entirely online, process could be much easier. The process of a lawsuit will be seen via the court's e-platform, which will reduce traffic costs to litigants and make judicial work more transparent.
The first cyberspace court has accepted about 1,500 cases until July, 2017. Wider applications for the model being created by the cyberspace court, cybersecurity could be a key challenge for the court appearing on the opposite aspect[1].
In early September 2018 also the Beijing Internet Court, a special court set up to deal with internet-related cases, is turning its sights to technology to prevent dishonest litigation after a successful initiative to allow people to file lawsuits online.[2] The third one will be established in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
To improve the credibility of online litigation, the court has adopted some technical measures. The identities of lawyers and litigants must be verified through a facial recognition system, and evidence online is protected by blockchain technology to prevent it from being falsified.
[1] http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-07/06/content_30010157.htm?bsh_b...
[2] IPR Daily, 05.11.2018, Court aims to smooth litigation with tech, http://www.iprdaily.com/article/index/15066.html