On May 7, the China National Intellectual Property Administration officially released the white paper “Status of China’s Intellectual Property Protection in 2025”, comprehensively reviewed the achievements of China’s intellectual property protection in 2025, systematically demonstrated solid progress in system construction, judicial and administrative protection, transformation of innovation achievements, international cooperation and other fields, and provided authoritative guidance for industry development.

2025 is the final year of the 14th Five Year Plan and a crucial year for China to accelerate the construction of a strong intellectual property country. In the past year, the national intellectual property system has deeply implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, with “strict protection, extensive protection, rapid protection, and simultaneous protection” as the core, and coordinated the promotion of the entire chain of intellectual property protection, creation, application, management, and service. The ability and level of intellectual property governance have continued to rise, and the satisfaction with protecting society has reached 82.81 points, a new high, and has delivered an impressive “answer sheet for intellectual property protection”.

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1、 Judicial and administrative dual wheel drive, building a comprehensive protection barrier

In 2025, China will continue to strengthen the leading role of judicial protection, deepen the effectiveness of administrative protection, coordinate and seamlessly connect judicial and administrative efforts, and build a full chain protection system covering pre prevention, in-process supervision, and post punishment. The intensity of infringement punishment is unprecedented, and the precision of innovative protection continues to improve.

Judicial protection continues to strengthen, cracking down on infringement throughout the entire chain:

In addition, China has newly established 7 national level intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, with a total of 129, building a “one-stop” rapid rights protection network. The overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance platform has recovered losses of 2.75 billion yuan for enterprises throughout the year, providing protection for enterprises to “go global”.

2、 Continuously strengthening institutional construction and establishing a solid foundation for the rule of law in intellectual property

In 2025, China will adhere to the high-level construction of the rule of law to support the high-quality development of intellectual property, accelerate the improvement of the legal and regulatory system for intellectual property, intensively introduce supporting institutional norms, promote the maturity and standardization of the intellectual property protection system, and provide solid legal guarantees for innovative development.

The newly revised Anti Unfair Competition Law and Regulations on the Protection of New Plant Varieties have officially come into effect

The Regulations of the State Council on the Handling of Foreign Related Intellectual Property Disputes have been promulgated and implemented

The draft revision of the Trademark Law has been passed through the first deliberation hall of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress

Supporting systems such as credit supervision, trade secret protection, and dispute arbitration have been intensively introduced,

Building a comprehensive institutional protection network

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3、 Creating and utilizing both quantity and quality, activating the driving force of innovative development

（1） By the end of 2025, multiple core indicators of intellectual property in China will maintain steady growth:
The effective number of invention patents reached 6.318 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.1%, maintaining a leading global position;

The number of effective registered trademarks reached 53.032 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%, and the vitality of market entities’ brand building continued to be released;

The total annual registration of copyright is 10.677 million, and innovative achievements in the cultural and creative fields continue to accumulate;

A total of 5066 geographical indication products have been recognized, and the intellectual property support for regional characteristic economic development continues to strengthen;

Throughout the year, 17104 applications for new agricultural plant variety rights were accepted, a year-on-year increase of 15.26%, and the protection of seed industry innovation continued to increase.

In the field of core technology, China’s patent layout continues to deepen, and the patent reserves of key core technologies for future industries such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, brain computer interfaces, and 6G communication continue to enrich; The effective number of AI patents ranks top in the world, providing strong support for industrial innovation and development by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

At the same time, China’s ranking in the 2025 Global Innovation Index Report rose to No. 10, ranking among the top 10 in the world for the first time. It has 24 global top 100 innovation clusters, including the Shenzhen Hong Kong Guangzhou cluster, which topped the world for the first time, and its innovation strength was internationally recognized by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

（2） Highlighting the effectiveness of conversion and utilization, fully unleashing the value
In 2025, China will deeply implement the special action of patent transformation and application, open up the whole chain of intellectual property creation, protection, application, management and service, and promote patent technology from “paper” to “production line” China National Intellectual Property Administration. Data shows that since the implementation of the special action of patent transformation and application, the number of patent transfer license filings nationwide has reached 1.458 million, up 48% compared with that before the action, and the market value of intellectual property has fully released the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

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4、 Combining cultural construction and international cooperation to create a favorable development environment

（1） Cultural construction has deeply penetrated people’s hearts, and the awareness of protection in the whole society has significantly increased

In 2025, China will continue to strengthen the construction of intellectual property culture, successfully hold large-scale events such as the National Intellectual Property Promotion Week, release typical cases and series of reports on intellectual property protection, improve the multi-level education and training system, and promote the widespread dissemination of intellectual property cultural concepts.

（2） Deepening and solidifying international cooperation, deeply participating in global governance

In the context of globalization, intellectual property protection is an important issue for international cooperation. In 2025, China will adhere to the principles of openness, inclusiveness, balance, and inclusiveness, deeply participate in global intellectual property governance, successfully host the series of meetings of the Director of the Cooperation Bureau of the Fifth Bureau of Intellectual Property (IP5), and promote the inclusion of multiple cooperation agreements in the diplomatic achievements of the head of state. Actively participate in the work of multilateral organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with intellectual property departments of various countries, share Chinese experience and solutions, promote a more fair, reasonable, and efficient global intellectual property governance system, and contribute Chinese strength to global innovation and development.

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5. Conclusion

At present, China is in a critical period of accelerating the construction of a strong intellectual property country and promoting high-quality development. Intellectual property, as a strategic resource for national development and a core element of international competitiveness, plays an increasingly prominent role.

Looking ahead to the future, China will continue to adhere to the concept of “strict protection, extensive protection, rapid protection, and equal protection”, continuously improve the intellectual property protection system, strengthen the entire chain of intellectual property creation, protection, application, management, and service, and promote intellectual property protection work with stronger, more practical measures, and higher standards, providing solid guarantees for innovation driven development and injecting strong impetus into the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized country and the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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