While the total number of court cases in China is declining slightly, the importance of IP jurisdiction is increasing noticeably. In civil IP proceedings, the courts recorded 454,000 new cases between January and September 2025, an increase of 33.78 per cent over the previous year. In contrast, the total number of proceedings fell by a good nine per cent, and criminal proceedings declined by over eleven per cent. The increasing number of IP cases can be explained by the growing innovation momentum of the Chinese economy, stronger competition in technology-intensive industries and a rising number of foreign market participants.
Parallel to the increasing number of IP disputes, the Supreme People’s Court is increasingly focusing on standardizing case law. Several new guidelines, judicial interpretations and collections of typical cases illustrate this trend. These include the response to the application of patent evaluation reports, which is intended to provide greater clarity in dealing with technical evaluation issues. The judicial approach is thus moving away from case-by-case solutions, which often vary from place to place, towards a more uniform and predictable legal practice.
Overall, it can be said that China’s IP case law in 2025 will be characterised by three key developments: a sharp increase in litigation, increasing standardisation, and the internationalisation and professionalisation of the courts. For companies, this means both new opportunities and greater demands. On the one hand, the enforceability of rights is improving, proceedings are being concluded more quickly and case law is becoming more predictable. On the other hand, the likelihood of becoming involved in IP conflicts is increasing, and the need for proactive IP management is growing.
China Intellectual Property Blog 