On March 3, 2026, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Report of the CNIPA on the Progress of Building a Rule-of-Law Government by 2025 (国家知识产权局关于2025年法治政府建设情况的报告). Some highlights from reports include:
- CNIPA imposed administrative penalties on 256 agencies and practitioners for serious violations in 2025;
- CNIPA revoked the licenses of 180 patent agencies in 2025;
- CNIPA cancelled the practice registration of 8,755 patent agents in 2025; and
- As of the end of December 2025, a total of 275 patent linkage adjudication cases had been accepted, and 238 cases had been concluded, with an average case-handling period of 176 days (far faster than the 9-month moratorium for drug approval).
A translation follows. The original text is available here (Chinese only).
In 2025, the CNIPA, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly studied and implemented Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, and earnestly implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its subsequent plenary sessions. In accordance with the “Outline for the Implementation of the Construction of a Rule-of-Law Government (2021-2025)” and the “Regulations on the Supervision of the Construction of a Rule-of-Law Government and the Implementation of Responsibilities,” the following is a report on the progress of the CNIPA’s work on the construction of a rule-of-law government in 2025.
I. Strengthen the Party’s leadership over the development of the rule of law, and study and implement Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law.
(I) Deeply Study and Implement Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law. The Party Group of the Bureau has always regarded studying and implementing Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law as an important political task. On December 19, 2025, the Party Group’s Theoretical Learning Center Group held a special study meeting to deeply study and understand Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law, and to implement it in an integrated manner with the actual work of intellectual property, so as to truly achieve a thorough understanding. The Bureau formulated the 2025 work priorities and key tasks of the Party Group, clarifying 47 specific tasks in 10 aspects, including the construction of the rule of law, and refined them into 289 specific measures. The annual goals and tasks were completed with high quality.
(II) Conscientiously fulfill the responsibilities of the primary person in charge of promoting the rule of law. The principal leader of the bureau strictly implemented the “Regulations on the Responsibilities of the Principal Leaders of Party and Government Organs in Promoting the Rule of Law,” and organized 44 Party group meetings and 6 bureau affairs meetings throughout the year. These meetings promptly conveyed and studied the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and directives, as well as the spirit of relevant central documents and related Party regulations, and made work arrangements. They also promptly conveyed and studied the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on comprehensively advancing the rule of law, the spirit of the Central Conference on Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law, and the spirit of the Central Political and Legal Work Conference, and studied implementation opinions. Furthermore, they earnestly studied and implemented the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and conducted in-depth research on improving the intellectual property protection system in emerging fields.
II. Emphasize scientific legislation and promote new progress in intellectual property legislation.
(I) Significant progress has been made in revising the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Trademark Law”). The draft revision of the Trademark Law was reviewed and approved by the State Council on November 14, 2025, and underwent its first review at the 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress from December 22 to 27. This revision of the Trademark Law adheres to a problem-oriented approach, focuses on prominent issues in the trademark field, improves the trademark registration, management, and protection system, and proactively aligns with high-level international economic and trade rules, which will help further promote high-quality economic development and further optimize the business environment.
(II) Advance the revision process of the “Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs”. The draft revision of the regulations was submitted to the State Council for deliberation in March 2025. The draft revision mainly includes four aspects: First, upholding the leadership of the Party and better leveraging the functions of the government; second, improving the registration and confirmation procedures; third, strengthening the protection of exclusive rights to layout designs; and fourth, promoting the implementation and application of layout designs to meet the needs of the integrated circuit industry and serve the goal of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.
III. Deepen the promotion of law-based administration and advance strict, standardized, fair, and civilized law enforcement.
(I) Strengthening Administrative Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. Guidance was provided to local authorities to strengthen case handling. In 2025, local intellectual property management departments handled over 9,300 administrative adjudication cases related to patent infringement disputes. Efforts were intensified in the administrative adjudication of early resolution mechanisms for drug patent disputes. As of the end of December 2025, a total of 275 adjudication cases had been accepted, and 238 cases had been concluded, with an average case-handling period of 176 days, far lower than the 9-month waiting period for drug approval. The “National Intellectual Property Administrative Protection Work Plan for 2025” was issued and implemented. The “Notice on Strengthening the Management of Trademark Use” was issued to strengthen the management of behaviors such as the use of deceptive trademarks.
(II) Conducting Special Rectification of the Intellectual Property Agency Industry. We deepened the “Blue Sky” campaign, continuously strengthened the comprehensive governance of the intellectual property agency industry, and jointly launched a special rectification campaign with the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Market Regulation to precisely crack down on serious illegal and irregular agency activities, maintain industry order, and promote the high-quality development of the agency industry. In 2025, we imposed administrative penalties on 256 agencies and practitioners for serious violations, revoked the licenses of 180 patent agencies and 1,208 branches, and cancelled the practice registration of 8,755 patent agents.
(III) Conducting Administrative Review and Fair Competition Review. In 2025, a total of 1,643 administrative review cases related to patents and trademarks were accepted, and 1,700 administrative review cases were concluded during the same period (including 319 cases carried over from the previous period). Adhering to and developing the “Fengqiao Experience” in the new era, 48% of administrative review cases were concluded through mediation and settlement, achieving a satisfactory resolution. Among the concluded administrative review cases, 66 parties filed administrative lawsuits, with a lawsuit rate of only 3.9%. In 2025, the legality of 4 documents was reviewed in accordance with laws and regulations, and fair competition reviews were conducted on 9 documents. A total of 65 major administrative enforcement decisions underwent legal review throughout the year, and 6 hearings were organized.
IV. Strengthen supervision and regulate the exercise of administrative power.
(I) Strengthen intra-party supervision. We will consistently adhere to a strict approach, earnestly fulfilling our supervisory, disciplinary, and accountability responsibilities in accordance with regulations, discipline, and law. We will integrate the comprehensive advancement of “preventing corruption, preventing corruption, and preventing abuse of power” into the entire process of power operation, continuously improving the effectiveness of supervision. We will formulate and revise regulations such as the “List of Main Responsibilities for Comprehensively and Strictly Governing the Party” and the “Regulations on Accountability Procedures. ” We will continue to advance the special campaign to rectify “using the examination for personal gain and collusion in the examination process” and the education and governance in the trademark field, standardizing intellectual property business processes, limiting discretionary power, and preventing the abuse of power in policy formulation, examination and review, and re-examination.
(II) High-quality handling of suggestions and proposals from the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In 2025, a total of 218 suggestions and proposals were handled, including 91 as the lead agency and 1 key proposal from the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The goal of achieving 100% on-time completion rate, 100% communication rate with deputies and members in the cases handled under our lead, 100% satisfaction rate with responses, and 100% rate of uploading handling opinions to the information platform was maintained. We actively studied and adopted the opinions and suggestions of deputies and members. Of the issues or opinions raised in the suggestions and proposals handled under our lead, 65 have been resolved or adopted, accounting for 71.4%, leading to the introduction of 54 policies and measures.
V. Strengthen the rule of law in foreign-related matters and improve the quality and efficiency of foreign-related legal services.
(I) Coordinating the advancement of domestic and international rule of law. In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, we drafted and formulated the “Regulations of the State Council on the Handling of Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Disputes,” which will come into effect on May 1, 2025. We guided Chinese citizens and organizations in handling foreign-related intellectual property disputes in accordance with the law, and made measures and provided guidance in response to foreign countries’ attempts to contain and suppress my country under the pretext of intellectual property disputes. We strengthened guidance on handling overseas intellectual property disputes; in 2025, we provided nearly 1,800 guidance services and over 3,000 consultation services on handling overseas intellectual property disputes.
(II) Actively participate in international rule consultations on multilateral and bilateral platforms in the field of intellectual property. Participate in relevant meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization, actively engage in discussions on relevant topics, express our concerns, safeguard national interests, and share China’s beneficial experiences and practices in artificial intelligence, information, and standardization. Promote positive progress in incorporating the Madrid System for Trademarks and the Hague System for Designs into the Chinese language. Conduct trade-related intellectual property work under the framework of the World Trade Organization, and participate in negotiations on the intellectual property chapter of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
VI. Strengthen the legal safeguard system to ensure the orderly operation of the rule of law.
(I) Strengthen legal education and build a comprehensive legal publicity system. For bureau staff, organize activities such as Constitution Publicity Week and Civil Code Publicity Month, and invite experts from the Secretariat of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Governing the Country According to Law to give special lectures on studying and implementing Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law. For the general public, conduct publicity on the revision of the Patent Examination Guidelines, publish interpretive articles on the bureau’s official website and WeChat account, and conduct special lectures for the public through the bureau’s online public lecture platform. For local intellectual property legal work teams, hold training courses to enhance their ability to safeguard intellectual property rights through legal means.
(II) Strengthening the training of foreign-related legal professionals and effectively safeguarding the rule of law in foreign-related matters. In conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and under the guidance of local authorities, we held 12 training sessions for foreign-related intellectual property lawyers, rigorously selecting and training over 800 foreign-related intellectual property lawyers, effectively enhancing their professional capabilities in foreign-related intellectual property legal services. We also held three lectures on foreign-related rule of law for our bureau’s legal professionals and public lawyers, inviting experts from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant departments to give lectures on foreign-related rule of law to our bureau’s public lawyers and legal professionals.
VII. Existing Problems and Next Steps
Over the past year, certain progress has been made in building a law-based government, but some shortcomings still exist, mainly reflected in the long revision cycle of intellectual property laws and the need to strengthen the supply of intellectual property legal systems in emerging fields. In 2026, the CNIPA will earnestly implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on comprehensively advancing the rule of law and the spirit of the Central Conference on Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law, further strengthen the legal protection of intellectual property rights, and promote better results in building a law-based government.
First, we will further study and improve the intellectual property protection system in emerging fields, and fully cooperate with legislative bodies and departments to accelerate the revision process of the Trademark Law and the Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs. Second, we will strengthen administrative adjudication of intellectual property rights, and continue to do a good job in fair competition review, legality review, administrative reconsideration, and administrative litigation. Third, we will increase the training of legal professionals and public lawyers within the bureau to improve their ability to perform their duties. We will strengthen the training and utilization of legal professionals specializing in foreign affairs. We will innovate forms of legal education to highlight its effectiveness.
