Recently, the white paper on the protection of intellectual property rights in china (hereinafter referred to as “the white paper”) was officially published in 2003. The white paper describes the progress and effectiveness of intellectual property protection in china in 2023 in five areas, namely, protection effectiveness, institution-building, licensing, cultural development and international cooperation。
In terms of protection effectiveness, the efficiency of judicial and administrative protection has been improving, with 462,200 new cases of civil first instance cases of intellectual property coming before the national courts, 7049 cases of arrest for intellectual property violations being examined by the national prosecution service and 40,000 cases of criminal offences against intellectual property rights and the sale of counterfeit goods by public security organs throughout the country. In 2023, the social satisfaction score for intellectual property protection in china rose to 82. 04, a record high. In terms of institutional development, the legal system for intellectual property rights has been improving. Some 20 laws and regulations on intellectual property rights have been drafted and amended throughout the year, two interpretations on intellectual property protection have been drafted and improved, and some 30 normative and policy documents on intellectual property protection have been issued. In terms of licensing, the number of ipr approval registrations has generally increased, with 4. 9906 million invention patents valid in china at the end of 2023, representing an increase of 18. 5 per cent over the same period; and 4. 6146 million trademarks registered effectively in china, representing an increase of 8. 1 per cent over the same period. The total number of copyright registrations per year was 89. 2399 million, an increase of 40. 46 per cent over the same period. The cumulative number of protected geographical marker products was 2508. In 2023, 14,278 applications for new varieties of agricultural plants were processed, an increase of 27. 5 per cent over the same period, 1906 applications for new varieties of forest grass plants and 915 authorizations. With regard to the construction of culture, there has been a continuous exchange of intellectual property stories, the promotion of intellectual property cultural concepts, the organization of policy briefings at the press office of the state council on such important events as the publication of the new amended rules for the implementation of patent laws, the publication of reports on the status of the protection of intellectual property rights of chinese customs in 2022, etc., and the publication of annual model cases of intellectual property protection in a multisectoral manner. In terms of international cooperation, it is deeply involved in the global governance of intellectual property rights, actively pursues the process of consultation relating to the treaty on appearance design law, the diplomatic conference on intellectual property rights and genetic resources, conscientiously implements the central european agreement on the protection and cooperation on geographical marks, organizes the 50th anniversary of china's cooperation with the world intellectual property organization (wipo) and the week-long campaign, and continuously strengthens its cooperation with customs enforcement in countries such as the european union, russia, japan and the republic of korea。
Since 1998, china has been issuing annual white papers on the state of intellectual property protection for more than 20 consecutive years, which have served as an authoritative tool for demonstrating the chinese government's firm position on the strict protection of intellectual property and for helping national and international communities to understand the state of intellectual property protection in china。
