In 2016, the national IPR system continued accelerating its crackdown on patent infringement and counterfeiting. Local law enforcement authorities enhanced their case processing capabilities, thereby contributing to the further enhancement of the case processing capabilities of the entire system, increasing the efficiency of law enforcement and case processing, and dramatically improving law enforcement and case processing in key areas.

  In 2016, a total of 48,916 patent-related administrative law enforcement cases were processed, representing an annual growth rate of 36.5%. Among these cases, (i) the number of patent disputes broke 20,000 for the first time, for a total of 20,859 (20,351 involved infringement disputes), representing an annual growth rate of 42.8%; and (ii) the number of cases involving counterfeiting reached 28,057, representing an annual growth rate of 32.1%. Among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, 12 provinces processed over 1,000 enforcement cases, and 29 provinces experienced an increase in case processing in 2015. Among the various regions, the East and Central regions processed the largest number of cases, while the Southwest and Northeast regions witnessed the fastest growth in number of cases processed. Meanwhile, the number of cases involving relatively complex and difficult patent disputes increased. 97.5% of the various patent-related cases were concluded (this rate refers to the ratio between the number of cases docketed and concluded in the current year and the number of cases docketed in the current year), reflecting an annual growth rate of 4.3%. Among these cases, 94.4% of patent infringement disputes were concluded, representing an annual increase of 0.8% and a further enhancement of enforcement efficiency. A total of 13,123 e-commerce patent enforcement cases were processed, representing an annual increase of 71.4%. A total of 2,860 trade show-related patent law enforcement cases were processed, representing an annual increase of 2.4%. The total for these two types of cases accounted for 32.7% of the total cases processed in 2016.

  Abstracted from China IP Magazine