Recently, a white paper entitled “The State of Intellectual Property Protection in China in 2024” (hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”) was officially released. The White Paper describes the progress and effectiveness of China's IPR protection in 2024 in five aspects: protection effectiveness, system construction, approval and registration, cultural construction, and international cooperation.
In terms of protection effectiveness, the level of IPR protection has continued to improve, with 450,000 new IPR civil first-instance cases received by courts nationwide, 7,646 cases of IPR infringement review and arrest handled by procuratorial organs, 37,000 criminal cases of IPR infringement and sale of counterfeit and shoddy goods filed and investigated by public security organs, 43,900 cases of trademark, patent and other areas of violations investigated and handled by market supervision departments, and 73,000 cases of IPR management departments handled 72,000 administrative cases of patent infringement disputes; the supervision of key areas continued to increase, and the relevant departments organized and carried out many special administrative enforcement actions with remarkable results; the reform of the system and mechanism of IPR protection continued to deepen, and the reform and innovation in the field of IPR took a solid step forward.2024, China's score of social satisfaction with the protection of intellectual property rights increased to 82.36, a new record high. System construction. The rule of law guarantee for intellectual property continued to be strengthened, with about 20 intellectual property laws, regulations and rules formulated and revised throughout the year, 2 relevant judicial interpretations formulated, more than 20 normative documents and policy documents related to intellectual property protection issued, and 11 local laws and regulations issued. Approval and registration. The efficiency and quality of IPR examination continued to improve. By the end of 2024, the effective volume of China's invention patents was 5,689,000, up 14.0% year-on-year; the effective volume of China's registered trademarks was 49,777,000, up 7.9% year-on-year; the total number of annual copyright registrations was 10,630,600, up 19.13% year-on-year; and the cumulative total of 2,544 geographic indications products were recognized. In 2024, 14,839 applications for new agricultural plant variety rights were accepted, up 3.93% year-on-year; 1,338 applications for new forestry and grass plant variety rights were accepted; and 29,541 applications for filing of customs protection of intellectual property rights were accepted. Cultural Construction. The dissemination matrix of intellectual property culture continued to expand, and the effectiveness of China's intellectual property protection was demonstrated in an all-round manner by organizing large-scale activities such as the National Intellectual Property Awareness Week, holding frequent press conferences, making full use of the platform for foreign exchanges and cooperation, releasing a series of reports on intellectual property rights and typical cases, and strengthening education and training. International Cooperation. China has been deeply involved in global IP governance, hosted the 2024 AIPPI World Intellectual Property Conference, to which President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter; held the Third Belt and Road High-Level Conference on Intellectual Property; continued to deepen exchanges and cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and other international organizations, as well as national and regional IP institutions; and continued to strengthen the cooperation between China and other countries in the field of IP. China will continue to deepen exchanges and cooperation with international organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as with national and regional intellectual property institutions, and continue to strengthen judicial cooperation and joint law enforcement with relevant countries (regions).
For more than 20 consecutive years since 1998, China has published annual white papers on the status of intellectual property protection, which is an important window for people from all walks of life at home and abroad to learn about the latest progress and effectiveness of China's intellectual property protection, and fully demonstrates the Chinese government's firm determination to strengthen intellectual property protection in a comprehensive manner.
