The Supreme People's Court has released its work report for 2025, outlining the latest directions and key statistical data regarding the judicial protection of IP rights.

1) Total Number of Concluded Cases

Courts at all levels nationwide concluded 494,000 IP cases, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.3%, covering all fields, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, technical secrets, and data rights.

2) Criminal Sentencing for IP Infringement

Throughout the year, 19,000 individuals were sentenced for intellectual property infringement crimes, marking a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. Authorities imposed severe crackdowns on criminal acts such as malicious infringement and trade secret misappropriation.

3) Rectification of Abnormal Batch Litigation

Efforts to rectify abnormal batch litigation involving intellectual property rights were intensified, resulting in the dismissal of 2,331 lawsuits and the imposition of judicial penalties on 694 cases in accordance with the law.

4) Landmark High-Compensation Case

The Supreme People's Court adjudicated a case involving the infringement of technical secrets related to a specific CNC machine tool. The court ordered the malicious infringer, along with its affiliated company, to jointly bear punitive damages amounting to three times the established loss, totaling RMB 380 million. This sets a precedent for high-compensation awards and establishes a benchmark for the safeguarding of technical secrets.

5) Administrative and Competition-Related Cases

A total of 25,000 cases involving administrative licensing and administrative agreements of business entities were concluded, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. Concurrently, judicial efforts in anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition were strengthened, with 27 civil monopoly cases being adjudicated.

6) Data Rights and Transactions

Courts concluded 908 cases involving data ownership and transaction disputes, a substantial year-on-year increase of 25.6%. Measures including punitive compensation were employed to penalize acts such as the misappropriation of data sets and infringement upon data rights and interests.

7) Steady Development of New Quality Productive Forces

The report also highlighted broader economic indicators reflective of innovation-driven growth: high-tech manufacturing grew by 9.4%; equipment manufacturing grew by 9.2%; industrial robot output increased by 28%; integrated circuit output increased by 10.9%; annual production of new energy vehicles surpassed 16 million units; and the number of electric vehicle charging facilities exceeded 20 million. These figures demonstrate that scientific and technological innovation has yielded fruitful results, and the industrial structure continues to undergo optimization.

China's IP judicial protection in 2025 demonstrates a trend towards stricter protection, more professional adjudication, and more prominent focus, with significantly enhanced protection for new fields like technical secrets and data rights. The overall judicial environment has become more standardized and transparent, thereby providing more stable and predictable legal safeguards for innovation, investment, and compliant operations for both Chinese and foreign enterprises.