The Greater China IP Updates ¡V March 2026

By Lyndon 

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China IP Court Handles 24,602 Cases Since 2019

Since the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court was established on January 1st, 2019, it has handled 24,602 cases, of which 23,069 have been successfully concluded.  Over the past seven years, 2,546 cases involved foreign elements, with an average annual growth of 18.7 percent.  Punitive damages were awarded in 58 cases, with the total compensation amounting to 2.05 billion yuan (0.295 billion US dollars).  In addition, 66 cases were confirmed to have involved monopolistic practices, spanning various sectors in technology and public welfare, such as pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, e-commerce, education, construction and funeral services.  The national-level IP Court was established to handle civil and administrative appeal cases related to invention patents, new varieties of plants, integrated circuits, technical secrets, computer software and monopolies.  Since the court’s establishment, litigants dissatisfied with rulings made by intermediate courts at the city or prefecture level, or by other specialized IP courts, were allowed to appeal directly to the national-level IP Court instead of provincial high courts.  The streamlined appeal process aims to prevent inconsistencies and improve the efficiency and quality of complex and technical hearings involving patents.  The focus has been on streamlining litigation procedures and enhancing case management with the result being a better approach to fostering technological innovation as part of the process of opening-up.  Previously, there were inconsistencies in adjudication standards for technical IP disputes and antitrust appeals nationwide, which brought about complaints of local protectionism in the system.  Now, more foreign entities are choosing Chinese courts to resolve their IP disputes.

CNIPA Releases 2025 Statistics

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently released full year statistics for 2025.  The most significant news was that overall grants (including invention, utility model and design patents) were down 16.18% compared to 2024.  Invention patent grants were down 7%, utility model patent grants were down 27.28% and design patent grants were up 3.56%.  While no official reason was given for the drop in grants, the decrease may be related to the continued crackdown on irregular patent applications, which made up roughly 10% of all 2025 filings, and the introduction of an examination system for utility model applications.  Notably, utility model patent grants have been declining for several years now with a 4% drop in 2024 and a 25% drop in 2023.  During the press conference that CNIPA held on January 23, 2026, it was announced that a total of about 972,000 invention patents, about 1,461,000 utility model patents, and about 666,000 design patents were granted in 2025.  The 7% drop in invention patent grants from 2024 was a reversal from the 13.5% increase in 2024 year-on-year.  It was mentioned that the Regulations of the State Council on the Handling of Foreign-related Intellectual Property Disputes had officially come into effect and had some influence on reigning in IP abuses, such as irregular patent applications.  Also, the introduction of an examination system for utility model applications reduced the number of spurious applications in that category.  Looking to the future, it was noted that the National Overseas Intellectual Property Information Service Platform is being continuously optimized and upgraded, and has included 1,470 laws, regulations and international treaties from 189 countries and regions around the world.  A series of country-specific guides and rights protection guidelines have been compiled and issued to ensure a better understanding of the global picture.