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ARTICLE · 21 MAY 2026

SPC Released Guiding Cases On Boosting Judicial IP Protection For Technological Innovation

China's Supreme People's Court has released seven guiding cases that establish new precedents for intellectual property protection, addressing critical issues from trade secret theft through employee poaching to malicious patent litigation. These landmark rulings introduce detailed enforcement mechanisms, clarify liability standards for online seed sales platforms, and strengthen remedies for copyright holders facing evidence obstruction.

ChinaIntellectual Property

On February 28, 2026, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) held a press conference on boosting the judicial protection of intellectual property for technological innovation, publicly releasing seven thematic guiding cases to guide the courts at all levels in hearing new-type and complex cases of intellectual property disputes, further improve the quality and efficiency of trials of intellectual property cases, and boost judicial protection for technological innovation.

According to the information released at the press conference, in 2025, national courts concluded 63,971 first-instance civil cases involving technical intellectual property, including 51,211 patent cases, 1,279 new plant variety cases, 1,079 trade secret cases, and 10,402 technology contract cases; 2,471 first-instance administrative cases involving patents and other technical intellectual property were concluded; 505 intellectual property cases heard with the awarded punitive damages totaling 1.8 billion yuan. In 2025,

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