On April 23, 2025, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China jointly released the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringing Intellectual Property Rights" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"). This new Interpretation, which has become effective from April 26, 2025, marks a significant milestone in enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights in China.
Key Highlights of the Interpretation
Criminal Offenses Related to Trademarks
The Interpretation clarifies contentious standards for recognizing "identical goods or services," "identical trademarks," and "registered trademark symbols." It expands the scope of criminal offenses to include services, not just goods.
Criminal Offenses Related to Counterfeiting Patents
The Interpretation refines the specific scenarios of "counterfeiting others' patents" and lowers the thresholds for criminal liability. For instance, the threshold for causing direct economic loss to the patentee has been reduced from CNY 500,000 (circa USD 70,000) to 300,000 (circa USD 41,000).
Criminal Offenses Related to Copyright
The Interpretation provides more precise definitions for key terms such as "without authorization" and "reproduction and distribution."
Criminal Offenses Related to Trade Secrets
The Interpretation introduces the new standard for "electronic intrusion," defined as "acts of obtaining trade secrets through unauthorized access to computer information systems or similar methods." It also provides detailed provisions on the determination of "serious circumstances" in trade secret crimes.
General Provisions
The Interpretation establishes specific standards in areas such as joint crimes, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, fines, corporate crimes, confiscation, and destruction. Notably, the upper limit for fines in IP-related crimes has been raised from "five times" the illegal gains to "ten times".
Insight
The Interpretation significantly expands the scope of punishable conduct to address emerging forms of infringement, particularly in the digital economy, while closing loopholes to ensure comprehensive coverage of increasingly sophisticated IP violations. The new rules also impose stricter penalties for repeat offenders, demonstrating a more aggressive judicial approach to combating habitual and large-scale infringements, thereby reinforcing the protection of innovation.
Against the backdrop of 69,100 IP criminal cases handled and 64,600 concluded at first instance by Chinese courts between 2013-2024, the interpretation represents a pivotal response to the growing complexity of IP crimes. Its systematic provisions establish a stronger legal foundation for criminal IP protection, combining enhanced remedies with more effective deterrence mechanisms.
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