IPR protection sees major progress

Over the past five years, an IP court was established at the Hainan Free Trade Port in Hainan province, adding to three such courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province. The four courts were set up to handle the rising number of IP cases.

Procuratorate organs nationwide also attached great importance to IP protection. Offices specializing in tackling IP cases have been established in procuratorial agencies in 29 provincial-level regions, according to the SPP work report delivered by Procurator-General Zhang Jun.

Prosecutors also worked with the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the National Copyright Administration to jointly solve major or influential IP cases, the SPP report said.

Data showed that 13,000 offenders were prosecuted in 2022 over breaches of trademarks, patents, copyrights and business secrets, a 51.2 percent rise from 2018.

Chinese judicial authorities have also improved the capacity of the justice system to handle cases involving foreign entities over the past five years, to better serve the country's high-level opening-up.

According to the SPC report, courts nationwide concluded 95,000 foreign-related commercial cases and 76,000 maritime cases from 2018 to 2022, with a total of 10 special courts established to handle international commercial disputes.

With an impartial, efficient and transparent maritime justice system, more foreign entities have chosen Chinese courts to settle their disputes, it said.

During the same period, Chinese prosecutors also endeavored to protect the legitimate rights of litigants from home and abroad while handling more than 20,000 foreign-related criminal cases, the SPP report added.