Based on the latest report from SIPO, Chinese government has strengthened its efforts to combat patent infringements in the past year, and 35,844 administrative law enforcement cases on patents were handled, up 46.4%. It's worth noting that this figure marked a 5th year of consecutive growth. Numbers show that the annual administrative law enforcement cases on IPR increased by 81.4% and 87,000 cases were concluded during the 12th "Five-Year Plan'period in total, 9.8 times the cases handled than prior planned schedule.

According to a representative from SIPO, in 2015, the national IPR system has handled 14,607 patent disputes and 21,237 patent counterfeit cases, up 77.7% and 30.6% respectively. Among which, 14,202 were patent infringements. In 2015, IPR system nationwide have strengthened efforts to carry out patent administrative law enforcement. 28 out of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, have handled more administrative law enforcement cases than the last year. It's worth noting that regional IP offices have played crucial roles in advancing patent administrative law enforcements. Numbers show that, in 2015, IP offices under SIPO nationwide have handled 8,744 patent infringement cases directly, representing 61.6% of the total, up 88.3%. According to this representative, national IPR system has handled more difficult patent disputes on a year-over-year basis, the case structure has been further optimized and the efficiency has been improved. Take the year of 2015 as an example, 93.2% of the disputes have been concluded, up 6.2%. At the same time, 7,644 patent disputes in e-commerce and 2,743 cases involving exhibition have been concluded, representing 1/4 of the total.

"In 2015, the national IPR system strengthened the efforts to protect IPR and fighted against infringement and counterfeit, the organ's activity, initiative and ability to handle the patent disputes have been obviously improved. Meanwhile, demands for quick rights safeguarding by the right holders, innovators and market players have been increasing. We are glad to see that they are more confident in governments' determination and efforts in carrying out IPR law enforcement than ever.' says this representative.

(China IP News)