BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Beijing court dedicated to intellectual property right (IPR) cases has said it handled about 18,000 cases in 2018, up 19 percent year on year.

Last year, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court also closed about 15,000 IPR-related cases, up 18 percent year on year.

The court was set up in 2014 as China's first IPR court. Many foreign companies and multinationals have chosen to file lawsuits in the court to safeguard their intellectual property rights.

In one case, British household appliances manufacturer Dyson filed a lawsuit against a Beijing company for patent infringement. In December last year, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled that the Beijing company must immediately stop the infringement and offer compensation to the British firm.

"In handling IPR cases concerning foreign entities, we neither give preferential treatment to the foreign party because of sensitivities of the case, nor do we favor the domestic party in the name of protecting national interests," said Song Yushui, vice president of the court.

China has stepped up the protection of IPR in a bid to improve the business environment and encourage innovation.

In 2017, Chinese courts dealt with 213,480 IPR cases, an increase of 40.4 percent on 2016, according to Tao Kaiyuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court.