On January 28, 2026, the Intellectual Property Court (IPC) of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the 2025 Annual Report of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (最高人民法院知识产权法庭年度报告). The Reported highlighted some IP infringement cases as well as provided statistics on caseloads and verdicts. Punitive damages are being awarded more regularly, but large verdicts are still relatively rare. In 2025, 30 cases (a 66.7% increase year-on-year) applied punitive damages, with a total compensation amount of 1.13 billion …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
Reminder: Extended CNIPA Closure for Lunar New Year 2026
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) will be closed February 15, 2026 to February 23, 2026 for the Lunar New Year (Spring Festival). Note, to compensate, CNIPA will be open on February 14 (Saturday) and February 28 (Saturday). Patent deadlines are postponed to the next following non-weekend workday. Other closure dates for 2026 Chinese holidays can be found here. Make sure to get your filings to Chinese colleagues early to ensure deadlines are met. Happy New Year!
CNIPA Releases 2025 Statistics – Total Patent Grants Down 16% YoY
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently released full year statistics for 2025. Overall grants (including invention, utility model and design patents) were down 16.18% compared to 2024. Invention patent grants were down 7%, utility model patent grants were down 27.28% and design patent grants were up 3.56%. While no official reason was given for the drop in grants, the decrease may be related to the continued crackdown on “irregular” patent applications, which made up roughly 10% of all …
CNIPA January 2026 Press Conference – Utility Model Grants Down 27%; Invention Patent Grants Down 7% in 2025
On January 23, 2026, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) held a press conference summarizing their intellectual property work in 2025. Of note, a total of about 972,000 invention patents, about 1,461,000 utility model patents, and about 666,000 design patents were granted in 2025. This represents a roughly 7% drop in invention patent grants from 2024 – a reversal from the 13.5% increase in 2024 year-on-year (YoY). Utility patent grants were down 27% continuing their downward trend. Design patent grants …