This plan is formulated to thoroughly implement the important instructions and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on comprehensively strengthening intellectual property protection, resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, vigorously promote the implementation of the “Outline for Building a Powerful Intellectual Property Country (2021-2035)”, the “14th Five-Year Plan for National Intellectual Property Protection and Utilization”, and the “Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection”, further improve the intellectual property protection system, strengthen the protection of the entire intellectual property chain, and help create a first-class market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.

1. Promote the implementation of laws and regulations. Do a good job in the publicity and implementation of the Patent Law and its implementing rules. Cooperate in the revision of the Trademark Law and the Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs. Do a good job in the implementation of the “Administrative Adjudication and Mediation Measures for Patent Disputes”, “Regulations on Regulating Patent Application Behaviors”, “Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Collective Trademarks and Certification Trademarks” and “Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products”. Implement the “Regulations on Evidence for Trademark Administrative Enforcement”, “Methods for Calculating Illegal Business Volume in Trademark Infringement Cases”, “Regulations on the Causes of Intellectual Property Cases in the Field of Market Supervision (Trial)” and other law enforcement norms.

2. Improve and optimize the protection system. Promote the implementation of the “Implementation Plan for the Intellectual Property Protection System Construction Project” and strengthen the construction of intellectual property protection policies and standards systems, management systems, social co-governance systems, security governance systems, and support systems. Carry out an evaluation of the implementation of the intellectual property protection construction project in a timely manner. Establish a regular communication mechanism with private and foreign-funded enterprises, listen to opinions and suggestions on intellectual property protection in a timely manner, and respond to corporate demands.

3. Standardize the application and use of patents and trademarks. Continue to crack down on abnormal patent applications and malicious trademark registration and hoarding by improving management systems, launching special actions, guiding industry self-discipline, and strengthening supervision of agencies . Strengthen professional guidance on investigating and punishing illegal use of banned trademarks with deceptive and adverse effects. For those that have already been registered, promptly report to the State Intellectual Property Office for invalidation in accordance with the procedures, and increase follow-up and disposal after the invalidation decision takes effect. Promote the implementation of the “Patent and Trademark Agency Service Government Procurement Demand Standard (Trial)”.

4. Strengthen patent protection. Improve the review and submission mechanism for administrative decisions on major patent infringement disputes, strictly review the facts and evidence that meet the circumstances for filing a case, and standardize the issuance of supporting materials. Promote the standardization of administrative decisions on patent infringement disputes, smooth the acceptance channels, optimize the trial model, increase the intensity of case handling, and highlight the quality and efficiency of handling. Accurately identify the facts of infringement, strictly determine the infringement behavior, and actively carry out quick handling of simple cases and fine handling of complex cases. Encourage all localities to fully rely on professional forces such as technical investigation centers, technical investigation officer expert pools, and intellectual property appraisal institutions to provide technical support for case handling.

5. Strengthen trademark protection. Strengthen timely protection, key protection, and cited protection of well-known trademarks. Encourage local governments to strengthen the protection of well-known trademarks such as Chinese time-honored brands and trademarks related to the inheritance and development of cultural heritage through special governance actions and the establishment of corporate credit evaluation systems, and severely crack down on infringements such as “copying famous brands”. Strengthen supervision and professional guidance on hidden infringements such as infringements using keywords in the Internet field, infringements using registered trademarks in combination, and infringements on others’ prior registered trademarks using design patents.

6. Strengthen the protection of geographical indications. Implement the Implementation Plan for the Unified Recognition System of Geographical Indications, and promote the transformation of original agricultural product geographical indications in an orderly manner. Promote the construction of national geographical indication protection demonstration areas with high quality, and strengthen the supervision of the implementation process of geographical indication protection projects. Promote the implementation and evaluation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Use of Geographical Indications. Encourage all regions to use means such as origin traceability to improve the characteristic quality assurance system of geographical indications and improve the professional geographical indication inspection and testing system. Establish and improve the approval, cancellation and supervision system for the use of special geographical indication marks, and standardize the use of special marks.

7. Strengthen protection of new fields and new formats. Actively cooperate in data intellectual property registration services, organize publicity and promotion, policy interpretation, registration guidance and other work for the public in a timely manner, and guide and encourage the public to actively register. Strengthen intellectual property protection in the field of artificial intelligence, and strengthen the publicity and implementation of the “Guidelines for Applications for Artificial Intelligence-Related Invention Patents (Trial)”. Increase the protection of intellectual property rights in forward-looking strategic emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaics, improve the working mechanism in combination with industrial and regional characteristics, strengthen the handling of patent administrative rulings and other cases, and provide precise guidance services.

8. Strengthen protection in hot areas of people’s livelihood. Focus on areas related to public interests and the vital interests of the people, such as food and medicine, rehabilitation aids, children’s toys, household appliances, and green and low-carbon technologies, and increase the daily supervision of intellectual property infringement and illegal acts and the guidance of trademark and patent administrative law enforcement. For areas where infringements are frequent in the region, carry out special intellectual property governance in a timely manner. Increase the protection of seed industry intellectual property rights, and strengthen professional guidance on investigating and handling counterfeiting, copying and other infringements.

9. Strengthen the protection of major events and important nodes. Provide good protection for the intellectual property rights of major events such as the 9th Asian Winter Games, the 12th World Games, and the 15th National Games, and crack down on infringements such as counterfeiting of sports souvenirs and cultural and creative products. Strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights of large exhibitions such as the China Import and Export Fair, the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and the China International Consumer Goods Expo, strengthen pre-exhibition inspections, exhibition inspections, and post-exhibition tracking, open up complaint channels, and quickly handle intellectual property disputes. Provide good protection for intellectual property rights during festivals such as May Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Day, strengthen supervision of e-commerce platforms, supermarkets, and professional markets, and prevent the circulation of infringing and counterfeit goods. Carry out risk investigation and special rectification at the time when seasonal geographical indication products are concentrated on the market, and strictly regulate the illegal use of geographical indications without authorization.

10. Strengthen the protection of foreign-related intellectual property rights. Promote the establishment of a working mechanism for the protection of foreign-related intellectual property rights in the region. Improve the service system for the protection of foreign-related intellectual property rights, handle all types of cases fairly and impartially, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign and foreign-invested enterprises equally. Strengthen the construction of local sub-centers for overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance, and focus on strengthening the guidance services for private enterprises to deal with overseas disputes. Improve the overseas risk early warning mechanism, strengthen the early warning monitoring of disputes such as “337 investigations”, cross-border e-commerce litigation, and malicious trademark registration, and improve the timeliness and initiative of serving enterprises. Strengthen coordination and docking with the commerce department, and strictly manage the transfer of technology export intellectual property rights in accordance with the law.

11. Deepen rapid and coordinated protection. Further promote high-quality rapid and coordinated protection of intellectual property rights, strengthen the operation and management of national intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, conduct reviews of patent pre-examination record entities and agencies, and strengthen pre-examination quality and public opinion monitoring management. Gather multi-party intellectual property resources, strengthen communication and collaboration between departments, standardize smooth connection procedures, and promote the rapid handling of intellectual property disputes. Encourage national intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers to provide assistance or technical support for administrative adjudication, administrative mediation, etc. Encourage multi-mode trials of patent reexamination and invalidation cases in national intellectual property protection centers to promote the connection between patent confirmation and administrative adjudication and administrative mediation of infringement disputes. Encourage national intellectual property protection centers to set up workstations in original innovation clusters such as national laboratories and large scientific facilities. Establish an intellectual property public service mechanism in science and technology parks and industrial parks, and support qualified intellectual property public service institutions to carry out information services such as overseas intellectual property rights protection and infringement warning.

12. Strengthen cross-departmental and cross-regional collaboration. Strengthen cooperation and coordination with the people’s courts, procuratorates, and public security organs, establish a long-term liaison mechanism, and promote the unification of administrative and judicial protection standards for intellectual property rights. Deepen cross-regional intellectual property administrative protection collaboration in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pan-Pearl River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, etc., do a solid and detailed job of information sharing, joint evidence collection, mutual recognition of results, etc., strengthen the tracking and handling of transferred clues, strengthen the collaborative protection and effect evaluation of key trademarks and geographical indications, and solve new problems such as “hidden” infringements across regions.

13. Promote social co-governance in dispute resolution. Strengthen administrative mediation work on patent ownership disputes, invention rewards and remuneration disputes, strengthen case handling guidance and linkage, and improve mediation quality and efficiency. Strengthen the professionalization of people’s mediation organizations, strengthen the construction of mediation teams by setting up full-time mediators and establishing expert databases, and enhance the professionalism and credibility of mediation. Promote online litigation and mediation of intellectual property disputes. Strengthen arbitration of intellectual property disputes and expand the use of arbitration channels to resolve intellectual property disputes. Strengthen the construction of the integrity system in the field of intellectual property rights, and strengthen the punishment of dishonesty for trademark and patent infringement, malicious trademark registration, and abnormal patent applications . Give full play to the role of typical cases of multi-party mediation of intellectual property disputes, do a good job in case selection, push, and release, and increase the promotion of experience exchange.

14. Strengthen professional guidance for law enforcement. Strengthen professional guidance for law enforcement in the field of intellectual property rights, and effectively combat all types of infringement and illegal activities. Standardize the case request handling system, and do a good job in case analysis and legal analysis for difficult cases and respond in a timely manner. Strictly implement the written reply filing system of provincial intellectual property management departments. Increase the follow-up and handling of the cases replied, and improve the quality and efficiency of case handling. Do a good job in case file review. Strengthen the selection and submission of guiding cases.

15. Promote smart supervision and protection. Continue to explore the application of new technologies such as the Internet, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain in intellectual property supervision. Promote the use of the national intellectual property protection information platform, support local governments to accelerate the construction of intellectual property public service platforms and independent and controllable thematic databases, and strengthen data sharing and business collaboration. Steadily promote the implementation of the national standards “Intellectual Property Protection Specifications for Commodity Trading Markets” and “Intellectual Property Protection Management for E-commerce Platforms”, and encourage qualified regions to use big data technology to carry out infringement and illegal risk monitoring, and realize real-time monitoring of clues of infringement and illegal behavior on e-commerce platforms.

16. Strengthen publicity and training. Coordinate traditional media and emerging media, make good use of integrated media, and publicize the measures and results of intellectual property protection through multiple channels. Make full use of important opportunities such as the National Intellectual Property Publicity Week to vigorously carry out centralized publicity, publish typical cases and experience practices, and create a good atmosphere for strengthening administrative protection. Strengthen the publicity and training of newly issued policies and regulations such as the “Administrative Adjudication and Mediation Measures for Patent Disputes” and the “Provisions on Evidence for Administrative Enforcement of Trademarks”, actively carry out business training, case discussions, skills competitions and other activities, and enhance the administrative protection capabilities of intellectual property rights at the grassroots level.

17. Strengthen organizational guarantees. All provincial-level intellectual property offices should conscientiously organize and implement, clarify the division of responsibilities, refine work measures, and make targeted improvements and upgrades in accordance with the shortcomings and deficiencies in intellectual property protection in the 2024 central quality, food safety and intellectual property protection assessments. Strengthen supervision and guidance, commend units and personnel who are responsible for their work and have outstanding achievements, criticize those who have frequent infringements and poor protection effects, supervise and improve in a timely manner, report work progress to the National Intellectual Property Office as required, and report important matters in a timely manner.