News & Cases From China: January 2023

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate Releases Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement (Draft for comment)

Release Date: 18 Jan 2023

In January, The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly released the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement (Draft for comment). The Draft mainly clarifies the circumstances in which misuse of IP will constitute a criminal offence. Article 213 of the criminal law makes provision for trademark criminal offences where the circumstances are "serious" or "particularly serious" ; the Interpretation lists specific circumstances that constitute 'serious' or 'particularly serious' circumstances.