On April 20, 2020, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) releases a 133-article Plan to Implement the Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening IP Protection (2020-2021), covering legislation, enforcement, simplification of procedure, international exchange, among others.

The CNIPA vows to:

a)      Offer input on Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on Several Issues Concerning the Hearing of Administrative Cases Involving the Granting and Affirmation of Patent Rights (by August);

b)      Offer input on the judicial interpretation on fighting online infringement and counterfeiting (by August);

c)       Promulgate Criterions on Finding Trademark Infringement (for administrative organs, by June);

d)      Offer input on Interpretation of the SPC on Some Matters Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Trade Secret Disputes (by August);

e)      Offer input on Interpretation III of the SPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Concrete Application of Laws in Handling Intellectual Property Criminal Cases (by August);

f)        Offer input on provisions on the threshold of initiating criminal prosecution in cases governed by public security organs (by August); and

g)       Revise provisions, inter alia, procedures and threshold for initiating transfer of administrative cases reaching criminal threshold from administrative agency to criminal justice authorities (by July).

Contributed by: Yongming Fan