China IP cases surge amid US complaints, Beijing push for technology self-reliance

China prosecuted a total of 11,003 people last year for violating trademarks, patents, copyright and business secrets, a rise of 32.2 per cent from 2018

Trade partners have long complained about intellectual property theft in China, which is also trying to encourage innovation at home

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Trade partners have long complained about IP theft in China, which produces hi-tech products for many of the world’s biggest technology brands. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:30pm, 27 May 2020Updated: 9:17pm, 27 May 2020

The number of infringement cases involving intellectual property rights violations in China has surged 5,660 per cent over the past two decades, according to the top prosecutor's office, in a sign of Beijing’s growing seriousness about rights protection as it seeks to boost innovation and appease the United States.

Details of the enforcement drive were released by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China in an annual work report on Monday, marking the first time the office has provided data on long-term trends.

In 2019, Chinese authorities prosecuted a total of 11,003 people for violating trademarks, patents, copyright and business secrets, a rise of 32.2 per cent from 2018, Zhang Jun, China’s prosecutor general, said in the report.

Zhou Qiang, chief of the Supreme People’s Court, said the country’s courts heard 418,000 cases related to intellectual property (IP) rights last year, a 45.1 per cent increase from a year earlier. It was the third straight year that IP cases before China’s courts grew by at least 40 per cent.

China has become the country that hears the most intellectual property cases, especially patent cases, and one of the countries with the shortest trial period

Zhou Qiang

“China has become the country that hears the most intellectual property cases, especially patent cases, and one of the countries with the shortest trial period,” Zhou told the national legislature when delivering his annual work report on Monday.