A visitor walks past a sign for intellectual property rights (IPR) protection during a trade fair in Beijing, on May 29, 2016. (PHOTO / IC)

BEIJING - China will strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) protection to guarantee high-quality development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), a senior intellectual property official said Sunday.

The National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) will improve the top design of IPR protection according to the outline of the country's 14th five-year plan for national economic and social development, Shen Changyu, head of the NIPA, said at a press conference.

Chinese prosecutors charged 12,163 individuals involved in 5,847 cases of IPR infringement in 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Sunday

The NIPA has basically completed the drafting of the IPR protection and application plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period and is promoting a new round of research on revising the Trademark Law, Shen said.

In 2020, China handled 31,300 trademark violation cases and over 42,000 administrative adjudication cases related to patent infringement disputes. It will continue to implement strict IPR protection system and punitive compensation system, he added. 

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Shen said that China will further improve its funding and reward policies on patents, highlight high-quality development, and protect and encourage high-value patents.

The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people has been included as an important indicator in the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan, which would promote the shift from pursuing quantity to improving quality in IP work, Shen added.

China moved up to 14th place in the Global Innovation Index of 2020 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ranking first among the mid-income economies globally.

In 2020, China was the largest user of the WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty system, with nearly 69,000 applications. 

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Meanwhile, Chinese prosecutors charged 12,163 individuals involved in 5,847 cases of IPR infringement in 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Sunday.

Among the 5,847 cases, 94.2 percent were trademark infringements, the SPP noted.

Last year, procuratorial organs nationwide approved the arrest of 7,155 suspects for IPR infringement, the SPP added.