On November 24th, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights" addressing all regions and departments to set out future developments of intellectual property protection in China.

It is not a coincidence that the new Opinions are released in conjunction with the new Foreign Investment Law that will enter into force January 1st, 2020.

As the first part of the document states “Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights is the most important content to improve the system of property rights protection, and also the biggest incentive to improve China's economic competitiveness.”

Moreover, the Opinions set a temporal limit in which the Intellectual Property Protection should reach its highest point. 

As stated in the document “By 2022, the frequent occurrence of infringement will be effectively curbed” and the situation of “hard to provide evidence, long cycle, high cost and low compensation for the obligee's rights” will be significantly improved. 

By 2025 it is planned that the social satisfaction of intellectual property protection will reach and maintain a high level, the protection capacity will be effectively improved, the protection system will be more perfect, the business environment that respects the value of knowledge will be more optimized, and the basic guarantee role of intellectual property system in stimulating innovation will be more effectively played.

Other important and more specific aspects are addressed in 23 points.

Increase punishment for infringement and counterfeiting, strengthen case enforcement measures, strengthen professional technical support, prompt handling of simple cases and disputes, enhance procedure speed, are just few of the crucial aspects pointed out by the document. 

Full text can be reviewed at http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2019-11/24/content_5455070.htm