Chinese procuratorates intensify crackdown on IPR infringement

BEIJING -- Chinese procuratorates handled, examined and prosecuted the cases of 28,000 individuals suspected of violating intellectual property rights (IPRs) between January and November in 2023, a 53.3 percent increase year on year, a senior prosecutor said Wednesday.

Liu Taizong, an official with the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), said the country's procuratorates had intensified the crackdown on IPR infringement, including violations in emerging businesses such as using livestreaming platforms to sell counterfeit products.

Procuratorates nationwide supervised the proceedings of 2,240 civil and administrative cases involving IPR infringement in the first 11 months of 2023, increasing by 170 percent from the same period of 2022.

They also lodged protests and suggested retrials in over 600 cases related to IPR infringement in the 11 months, 8.7 times the figure for the same period of 2022.

All people's procuratorates at the provincial level in China now have offices in charge of IPR-related cases, and the SPP has issued a guideline for procuratorates on handling such cases, Liu said.