On May 7, 2026, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a white paper entitled “China’s Intellectual Property Protection Status in 2025” (二〇二五年中国知识产权保护状况). The white paper documents developments across judicial protection, administrative enforcement, legislative reform, international cooperation, and public services during the final year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Overall Indicators
China’s IP protection social satisfaction score rose to 82.81 out of 100 (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). The country reached 16 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people and entered the top 10 of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index for the first time. As of year-end 2025, valid invention patents in China totaled 6.318 million, up 11.1% year-over-year, with domestic valid inventions accounting for 5.32 million.
Patent and Trademark Filing Trends
Patent filing data reflects what appears to be a continued policy orientation toward quality over quantity. Invention patent grants declined 7.0% to 972,000, while utility model grants dropped 27.3% to 1.461 million. Design patent grants increased 3.6% to 666,000. PCT international applications filed through China grew 5.1% to 78,500, and Hague System design applications from Chinese applicants rose 27.8% to 2,844.
Trademark registrations fell 12.0% to 4.206 million, though the cumulative pool of valid registered trademarks grew 6.5% to 53.03 million. Madrid international trademark applications from Chinese applicants decreased 4.6% to 6,718.
Copyright registrations edged up 0.44% to 10.68 million, comprising 7.49 million work registrations and 3.18 million software registrations. Agricultural plant variety applications rose 15.26% to 17,104, with domestic applicants accounting for 98.07%.
Judicial Protection
Chinese courts received 473,411 new first-instance IP civil cases and concluded 460,422. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate established a dedicated IP Prosecution Department, and the Technical Investigator system was expanded to assist courts in handling technically complex cases.
The report highlights the “NP01154” plant variety infringement case, in which the Supreme People’s Court affirmed damages of 53.35 million RMB— identified as the highest award to date in a Chinese plant variety infringement case. The court applied a 1x punitive damages multiplier after finding intentional infringement across seven approved hybrid corn varieties over a five-year period affecting 8,243.4 mu of production.
A Guangdong administrative case involving HEVC video codec standard essential patents managed by the Access Advance (AA) patent pool was resolved through mediation, with the respondent reaching a licensing agreement with the pool. The case addressed the application of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principles in the administrative adjudication context.
Legislative Developments
The reporting period saw revisions to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (effective October 15, 2025) and the Plant Variety Protection Regulations (effective June 1, 2025). The Regulations on Handling Foreign-Related IP Disputes took effect May 1, 2025.
The Trademark Law revision completed its first reading before the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in December 2025 and was opened for public comment. The Trademark Law Implementation Regulations are being revised in parallel.
The Patent Examination Guidelines were amended on November 10, 2025, effective January 1, 2026. The amendments address IP protection in new fields including artificial intelligence, streaming media, and plant varieties. CNIPA also issued guidelines for design patent joint applications, GUI-related design applications, and small nucleic acid drug invention patent examination.
Administrative Enforcement
Administrative authorities handled 105,000 IP cases across patents, trademarks, geographical indications, and trade secrets. This included 33,000 patent infringement administrative adjudications, 68,000 trademark infringement cases, and over 1,200 geographical indication cases. CNIPA accepted 70 drug patent dispute early resolution cases and concluded 58.
Customs authorities seized 39,000 batches of infringing goods containing 86.42 million items. The “Dragon 2025” customs operation and targeted campaigns on cross-border e-commerce and designer toy industries were conducted. In one notable operation, Beijing Customs seized 114,000 items infringing Pop Mart (泡泡玛特) trademark and copyright, assisting national customs in intercepting millions of items and preventing over 200 million RMB in losses — positioned in the report as support for Chinese cultural brands in overseas markets.
A coordinated operation across 28 provincial jurisdictions targeted a chain retailer infringing 19 brands including Nike, New Balance, Adidas, and LV. Inspections covered 297 shops, with 232 sanctioned, illegal operations totaling 6.54 million RMB, and 5 criminal referrals.
Dispute Resolution
Arbitration of IP disputes grew 41% year-over-year to 8,774 cases. The Ministry of Justice and CNIPA jointly issued Guiding Opinions on Strengthening IP Arbitration. The Commercial Mediation Regulations were promoted to support alternative dispute resolution.
IP system mediation organizations reached 1,690 nationwide, handling 62,000 cases and serving over 120,000 private enterprises. Judicial administration mediation organizations totaled 2,444 and handled 56,000 IP disputes. A “total-to-total” online mediation platform integrated 980 mediation organizations and over 7,100 mediators with the people’s court system.
Foreign-Related Protection
28 new local overseas IP dispute guidance platforms were established, along with 2 industry platforms (shipbuilding and photovoltaics) and 6 overseas platforms in jurisdictions including the United States and Switzerland. Guidance platforms provided over 4,800 consultations and assisted enterprises in recovering 2.75 billion RMB in losses.
CNIPA and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued an opinion on strengthening IP protection in the photovoltaic industry in December 2025, addressing IP concerns tied to international trade and industry competition.
International Cooperation
The IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway pilot was extended through January 2029. The PPH network expanded to 35 partners covering 86 countries, with new or renewed agreements with Brazil, Morocco, and Indonesia. Turkey became the first participant in the PPH pilot under the Belt and Road framework.
CNIPA signed a data exchange agreement with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, witnessed by Premier Li Qiang. Cooperation agreements were exchanged with IP authorities in Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan. Cooperation with the European Patent Office was extended through a classification cooperation agreement and 2026 work plan, and the PCT International Searching Authority pilot with the EPO was extended through 2031.
Emerging Technologies
The report identifies artificial intelligence as a new field being addressed within the IP protection system. The revised Patent Examination Guidelines include provisions for AI-related subject matter. CNIPA’s National IP Public Service Platform includes 28 industry-specific thematic patent search databases covering AI, quantum information, and integrated circuits. The report references “exploration of the application of artificial intelligence and other new technologies in IP examination” without providing implementation details.
Public Services and Infrastructure
The network of National IP Protection Centers and Rapid Rights Protection Centers grew to 129, handling 136,000 rights protection cases with average processing time under two weeks. Patent pre-examination requests reached 383,000, with invention patent grant periods for pre-examined applications compressed to under three months.
The full text is available here (Chinese only).
