October 2025

1. At the 39th anniversary of Sanyou, we embark on a new journey together

On October 8th, Sanyou celebrated its 39th birthday. From a humble office to an elite team of over 450 people today, and from an industry newcomer to a nationally leading IP firm, Sanyouers conveyed the sense of mission and responsibility, aspirations and dreams of intellectual property holders through a speech contest.

The contestants, drawing from their own work experiences, interpreted the impact of AI technological revolution on the intellectual property industry from multiple aspects. They also shared how the spirit of Sanyou has been continually infused with new connotations as the times change, radiating with vitality.

We are grateful for the trust of every client and appreciate the dedication and perseverance of every Sanyouer. Standing at the new starting point of our 39th anniversary, we pay tribute to our past and look forward to embarking on a new journey with you!

2. The Supreme People's Court releases key data on judicial trial work in the first half of 2025

According to data released by the Supreme People's Court, in the first half of 2025, China's courts accepted a total of 21.092 million cases of various types, including 767,000 criminal cases, 13.829 million civil and commercial cases, 381,000 administrative cases, and 5.608 million enforcement cases. The overall quality and efficiency of trials continued to improve, with the appeal rate dropping by 1.68 and the retrial rate decreasing by 0.37. By the end of June, the number of cases pending for more than one year had decreased by 13.18, further consolidating and deepening the effectiveness of the conclusion for long-pending litigation cases.

The courts have vigorously promoted diversified dispute resolution, with 2.316 million cases mediated first, 1.493 million successfully resolved, and 400,000 disputes mediated. The self-mediation rate increased by 10.3 times year-on-year, and the satisfaction rate of the parties with the court's case filing reached 90.07.

529,000 criminal cases of first instance were accepted, and the Supreme People's Court released 5 typical criminal cases to promote the development of the private economy, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises equally in accordance with the law.

The number of cases in the civil and commercial field has seen rapid growth, with 12.372 million first-instance cases accepted, marking a year-on-year increase of 38.87. Among these, 307,000 first-instance civil cases involving intellectual property rights were accepted, up by 36.15 year on year. 801 first-instance cases concerning new plant varieties were accepted, up by 84.14 year on year. And 20,000 first-instance cases involving foreign-related civil and commercial matters were accepted, marking a year-on-year increase of 52.

175,000 administrative cases of first instance were accepted, marking a year-on-year increase of 19.67. Additionally, 106,000 applications for the enforcement review of non-litigious administrative actions were accepted, representing a year-on-year increase of 24.88.

5.312 million initial enforcement cases were accepted, marking a year-on-year increase of 13.62. The completion rate and satisfaction rate of enforcement stood at 41.96 and 54.38 respectively, maintaining a high level of performance. The number of newly added individuals on the dishonesty list decreased for five consecutive quarters, with 1.1158 million individuals undergoing credit restoration.

In the first half of 2025, the overall trial efficiency and judicial guarantee functions continued to be enhanced, providing strong support for high-quality economic and social development.

3. The Supreme People's Court of China released 8 typical cases of anti-unfair competition cases and 5 typical anti-monopoly cases

The Supreme People's Court of China has released 8 typical cases of anti-unfair competition and 5 typical cases of anti-monopoly. The anti-unfair competition cases cover areas such as imitation and confusion, infringement of technical secrets, commercial defamation, online unfair competition, and emerging sectors like artificial intelligence. These cases present 3 major characteristics:

1) We must adhere to strict protection to maintain a fair competitive order; 

2) We must resolutely punish unfair competition behaviors such as "passing off famous brands" to serve high-quality development; 

3) We must properly handle new types of disputes to guide the standardized development of emerging sectors.

(1) 2025 Supreme People's Court Typical Anti-Unfair Competition Cases

1. Unfair Competition Dispute over the "某牛" Business Name [Supreme People's Court (2024) Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 224] - Determination of the act of registering a business name with "certain influence" belonging to others.

2. "Centrifugal Compressor Selection" Software and Technical Secret Infringement Dispute [Supreme People's Court (2022) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong No. 1592] - Identification of Technical Secret Infringement and Infringement Liability in the Establishment of a Hidden Inter-industry Company.

3. "Natural Protease 3" Trade Secret Infringement Dispute [Supreme People's Court (2023) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong 2913, Wuhan Intermediate People's Court of Hubei Province (2022) E 01 Zhi Min Chu 707] - Determination of the secrecy of the overall technical solution.

4. Unfair Competition Dispute over Third-party Trading Platform for Online Games [Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court (2022) Yue 73 Min Zhong No. 3597, Guangzhou Internet Court (2020) Yue 0192 Min Chu No. 46315] - Determination of unfair competition behavior in game trading services.

5. "Attracting Traffic in Livestreaming Marketing" Trademark Infringement and Unfair Competition Dispute [Quzhou Intermediate People's Court, Zhejiang Province (2025) Zhe 08 Min Zhong No. 563, Zhejiang Quzhou Qujiang District People's Court (2024) Zhe 0803 Min Chu No. 1192] - Determination of imitation and confusion behavior in livestreaming marketing.

6. "Vehicle Maintenance Service" Unfair Competition Dispute [Shanghai Intellectual Property Court (2025) Hu 73 Min Zhong No. 33, Shanghai Minhang District People's Court (2024) Hu 0112 Min Chu No. 3840] - Determination of Commercial Defamation.

7. Unfair Competition Dispute involving "Photo Theft and Store Copying" of a moving software [Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court (2024) Su Min Zhong No. 212, Jiangsu Province Zhenjiang Intermediate People's Court (2023) Su 11 Min Chu No. 29] - Determination of unfair competition in infringing data rights and interests.

8. "Transforming Comic Special Effects" Unfair Competition Dispute [Beijing Intellectual Property Court (2023) Jing 73 Min Zhong No. 3802, Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court (2023) Jing 0105 Min Chu No. 71391] - Protection of Artificial Intelligence Model Structure and Parameters under Anti-Unfair Competition Law

(2) 2025 Supreme People's Court Typical Anti-Monopoly Cases

The anti-monopoly cases have focused on industries related to people's livelihood, such as transportation, building materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and chemical engineering. These cases involve abuse of administrative power, horizontal price monopolies, and monopolistic behavior by industry associations, highlighting the refinement of the regulatory system and the coordination between judicial enforcement and law enforcement.

1. Abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition in "shared electric bicycles" [Supreme People's Court (2023) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Xing Zhong No. 1011] - Determination of acts of abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition.

2. "Cement Association Horizontal Monopoly Agreement" Anti-monopoly Administrative Penalty Case [Supreme People's Court (2024) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Xing Zhong No. 148, Beijing Intellectual Property Court (2023) Jing 73 Xing Chu No. 6605] - Determination of Industry Associations Organizing Operators to engage in Monopolistic Conduct.

3. Anti-monopoly administrative penalty case of "camphor active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) horizontal monopoly agreement" [Supreme People's Court (2023) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Xing Zhong No. 30, Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, Jiangsu Province (2021) Su 01 Xing Chu No. 753] - determination of the conclusion and implementation of a horizontal monopoly agreement by API operators and the determination of the proportion of fines.

4. "Concrete Enterprise" Horizontal Monopoly Agreement Case [Supreme People's Court (2024) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong 456, Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court (2023) Yu 01 Min Chu 303] - Presumption and Calculating Rules of Victim Losses in Horizontal Monopoly Agreements.

5. "Formaldehyde Sales Market" Horizontal monopoly agreement case [Supreme People's Court (2024) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong 350, Wuhan Intermediate People's Court, Hubei Province (2023) E 01 Zhi Min Chu 335] - Determination of the conclusion and implementation of a horizontal monopoly agreements.

4. New policies on intellectual property rights will be implemented from October 2025!

(1) After October 1, 2025, electronic applications in XML format must be submitted for requests for priority examination, expedited examination, Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), deferred examination, and centralized examination of patents.

(2) From October 1, 2025, the 21 intellectual property protection centers will no longer accept patent application pre-examination cases submitted by patent agencies not on the "List of Guaranteed Patent Agencies for Precise Services".

(3) On October 20, 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration launched the new online trademark application system. From October 16 to 20, the old online trademark application system was temporarily suspended from providing external services.

(4) From October 1, 2025, the Supreme People's Court adjusted the basic-level people's courts with jurisdiction over civil and administrative cases involving intellectual property rights and their respective jurisdictional areas.

(5) From October 15, 2025, the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China officially came into effect.

(6) From October 1, 2025, the European Patent Office (EPO) will accept color drawings.