China’s top court balances innovation, public interest in IP protection

China’s Supreme People’s Court has recently reaffirmed that robust protection of intellectual property rights must go hand in hand with balancing public interest and incentives for innovation. He Zhonglin, deputy chief judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court, emphasised that protection and interest-balancing are two inseparable dimensions of IP enforcement: protection is the foundation, while balancing interests is the ultimate objective.

Since the establishment of the specialised IP Court in January 2019, punitive damages have been awarded in 58 cases, with total compensation reaching 2.05 billion yuan (approximately USD 295 million), and 73 cases have involved compensation exceeding 10 million yuan each, totaling 5.24 billion yuan. According to He, these figures reflect not only a stronger judicial stance on IP enforcement mandated by the central leadership and Chinese legislation, but also the broader context of China’s economic and technological development, expanding market scale, and intensifying competition. As China moves toward high-quality growth, IP is increasingly treated as a core business asset and a key competitive tool, with infringement having ever more significant market impact.

The IP Court has been handling a growing number of disputes in cutting-edge technology fields and strategic emerging industries, which has contributed to the rise in both the frequency and size of high-compensation awards. At the same time, He stressed that “higher is not always better”: courts will continue to base their decisions on evidence, raising compensation where innovation is high and harm is serious, while awarding more modest sums in cases involving general levels of innovation or minor infringement. Going forward, the court aims to maintain strict protection of IP rights while more finely calibrating the balance between right holders and the public, in order to safeguard rights, promote innovation, and sustain vibrant market competition.

Source:
https://english.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2026/2/5/art_3090_203962.html (English)