On December 5, 2025, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Guidelines for Design Patent Applications Involving Graphical User Interfaces (涉及图形用户界面的产品外观设计专利申请指引). Per CNIPA, “this guide aims to guide innovators to accurately understand the rules governing GUI-related product design by introducing it’s characteristics, application document requirements, and typical cases of GUI-related design, thereby improving the quality of GUI patent application drafting and responses and promoting the high-quality development of the design patent system.”
Category: Design Patent
CNIPA Publishes Compilation of Key Points of Decisions in Typical Patent Reexamination and Invalidation Cases (2024)
On August 11, 2025 through August 18, 2025, China’s Reexamination and Invalidation Review Department of the Patent Office of the National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Compilation of Key Points of Decisions in Typical Patent Reexamination and Invalidation Cases (2024) (专利复审无效典型案件决定要点汇编(2024)). CNIPA stated that the release was “to focus on explaining the application of law in patent reexamination and invalidation cases and to showcase the latest practices in patent examination in various technical fields.” CNIPA generated the Compilation by …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Summary of the Annual Report on the Application of Law in Intellectual Property Cases (2024) Listing 41 Case-Derived IP Laws
On April 21, 2025, China’s Supreme People’s Court released the Summary of the Annual Report on the Application of Law in Intellectual Property Cases (2024) (全国法院知识产权案件法律适用问题年度报告（2024）摘要) listing 41 laws derived from 2024 IP litigation cases (and 2 from antitrust). While China is not a common law country, China’s SPC regularly releases guiding or typical cases as well as these summaries to promote uniformity to help ensure similar cases are treated consistently across different courts.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Typical Cases of Administrative Enforcement – Patent
On April 26, 2024, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the 2023 Typical Cases of Administrative Enforcement (2023年度知识产权行政保护典型案例). The 30 cases covers patents, trademarks and geographical indications. Administrative enforcement in China provides an alternative to enforcement through the court system and can be faster and less expensive than going to trial. However, while damages are unavailable defendants can be fined.