China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) published the “Patent and Trademark Examination 15th Five-Year Plan” (专利和商标审查“十五五”规划) on November 3, 2026. The plan sets out goals, tasks, and specific projects for patent and trademark examination work covering the 2026-2030 period, and it was issued pursuant to two earlier policy documents: the Outline for Building a Powerful Intellectual Property Nation (2021-2035) and the IP Protection and Utilization 15th Five-Year Plan.
Category: Patents
China Moves to Screen Patents Used in SRDI and “Little Giant” Enterprise Certification
On October 23, 2026, four Chinese government bodies – the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the State Taxation Administration, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) – jointly issued a notice titled “Notice on Further Preventing the Influence of Unscrupulous Intermediary Agencies on the Cultivation and Certification of High-Quality SMEs” (工信厅联企业〔2026〕40号, dated October 13, 2026). The notice addresses the involvement of third-party intermediary agencies in assisting companies with preparation of application …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Clarifies Profit-Based Test for Inventor Remuneration in Service Invention Dispute Over Adalimumab Biosimilar Patent
The Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court issued a final judgment on June 24, 2026, in case (2024)最高法知民终907号 published September 4, 2026, resolving an appeal from a Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court decision in a dispute over statutory inventor remuneration for a service invention. The court held that a company owes its inventor a share of the operating profit generated by a patented invention whenever the invention is commercially implemented and the relevant product generates profit in a given …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Issues First National Judicial Rules on AI Disputes — But Sidesteps Copyrightability of AI-Generated Works
On September 7, 2026, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China released the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Trial of Cases Involving Artificial Intelligence Disputes (最高人民法院关于依法审理涉人工智能纠纷案件的意见). The Opinions comprise five parts and 24 articles and are the first set of judicial adjudication rules concerning artificial intelligence issued by China’s highest judicial body. They are framed as guidance for lower courts applying existing law – the Civil Code, Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law, Copyright Law, …