A Chinese government office recently issued a report on its intellectual property protection and business environment in 2021, covering new laws and regulations, the government's implementation of the law in enhancing intellectual property protection, lowering market barriers and maintaining fair competition in the market.

Yesterday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its 2022 Special 301 Report "on the adequacy and effectiveness of U.S. trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights."

We have previously written about an EU request under Article 63.3 of the TRIPS Agreement relating to "a number of recent [Chinese] judicial decisions and regulations relating to patents," noting that "in four court cases decisions were taken relating to application for and enforcement of injunctions

On March 16, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court held a press conference in which it provided a summary report report on ten typical anti-trust cases. Officials also introduced the newly established Competition and Monopoly Committee.

China's IP agency recently rejected over a thousand trademark applications related to the 2022 Winter Olympics that are "malicious", according to an agency announcement.

The Chinese Supreme Court recently issued a new judicial interpretation on the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which took effect on March 20. It further clarifies rules on counterfeiting and other acts of unfair competition.

Earlier this year, China's intellectual property agency issued a new document that attempts to use administrative penalties to address unlawful acts in the area of intellectual property, such as malicious trademark registration and patent application using fraudulent data.