Courts in Guangdong province have increased their cooperation on intellectual property rights with academics in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions over the past three years, contributing to IPR protection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China's top court said.

The intensified cooperation was highlighted in the area between 2019 to 2022, according to a report on the legal guarantee and services for the GBA, which was issued by the Supreme People's Court on Thursday.

The report said that the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court in Guangdong strengthened efforts to establish an IPR alliance for the GBA by working with an IPR research center in Macao, Hong Kong University and the Intellectual Property School at Jinan University in Guangdong, aiming to provide stronger IPR protection in the area and promote local innovation.

From 2019 to 2021, courts in Guangdong's nine cities, including Shenzhen, Huizhou and Dongguan, concluded more than 440,000 IPR cases, with punitive damage compensation imposed for violators, according to the report.

During the same period, the courts on the Chinese mainland also negotiated three legal assistance arrangements with Hong Kong and two with Macao in an effort to optimize the regional legal system used to resolve civil and commercial disputes, it said.

Additionally, younger legal talent in the GBA met to share their opinions on legal issues at a gathering organized by the National Judges College, it added.