On 10 May 2024, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced the top ten typical cases of intellectual property (IP) enforcement for 2023, which encompassed a range of illegal activities, including the production and sale of counterfeit branded automobile glass, the illicit manufacture and sale of fake cosmetics, the sale of tea infringing upon the “中茶” tea brand registered trademark, the infringement of “DENSO” and “TOYOTA” trademarks, the sale of goods bearing the counterfeit "FION" trademark, and the sale of counterfeit patented fertilisers.
The release of the top ten cases for 2023 highlights the following trends in China’s IP enforcement:
Enhanced cross-regional collaborative enforcement
In one notable case, the local Administration for Market Regulation (AMR) in Beijing investigated an Beijing company for falsifying application materials for geographical indication certification trademarks. Upon receiving a tip-off, the Beijing AMR discovered that the company had committed a number of offences during the trademark application process, including colluding with applicants to alter the content of county records for Changli and Qinglong counties, and to falsify the validity period of the applicant's institutional legal person certificate. This investigation involved collaborative efforts between the local AMRs in Beijing, Hebei Province, Baoding City, Qinhuangdao City, Changli County, and Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, in accordance with an IP enforcement agreement among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province. Their concerted efforts established the facts of the case, laying a solid foundation for its resolution.
Improved IP enforcement in underdeveloped regions
Among the top ten cases, enforcement actions were not limited to major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, or economically developed eastern regions such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Cases from central and western provinces like Hubei, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Shandong, and Sichuan were also included. Historically, IP development in these central and western regions has lagged. The inclusion of these regions in the list of typical cases demonstrates the regional coordination and enhancement of IP enforcement capabilities across China.
Persistence of counterfeit goods
More than half of the cases involved trademark infringement related to counterfeit goods, indicating that the production of counterfeit products continues to be prevalent in China.
Today, China is still considered to be one of the largest producers of counterfeit goods and imitations in the world, a concern for many foreign companies operating in China. To address this issue, China has cracked down on the production and sale of counterfeit goods, improved the IP protection system, and made the commitment to encourage and protect original products and brands. IP rights protection, however, needs to be built and developed over a long period of time. Hence, cracking down on counterfeits will likely remain the focus of China’s IP enforcement for years to come.
Special attention to influential identifiers
On 30 October 2023, the AMR of Qingyang District in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, imposed administrative penalties on a Chengdu private company for unauthorised use of the emblem of the 31st FISU World University Games. The Chengdu University Games is a large-scale international sports event organised in China for the world's young university students, which has attracted a high degree of attention from the domestic and international media. This case, which investigated the use of the emblem for online marketing via WeChat public accounts and mini-programmes, was characterised by its short duration. Despite the difficulty in collecting evidence, the handling of this case reflected the SAMR's special focus and swift response to the misuse of influential identifiers. The case also underscored the growing enforcement capabilities of China's market regulation authorities.
The 2023 top ten IP enforcement cases illustrates the progress China has made in IP enforcement, and showcases how China has enhanced regional cooperation, improved capabilities in less developed areas, and heightened its focus on the protection of influential trade marks and identifiers, although China continues to face challenges in several areas, including the production and sale of counterfeit goods.
The original publication can be found here (Chinese only).
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