1. Content interpretation
The "Opinions on Further Optimizing the Business Environment in the Field of Intellectual Property Rights," tly issued by the National Intellectual Property Administration and six other departments, focuses on market-oriented, rule-of-law, international, and facilitation reforms. It aims to stimulate innovation vitality and optimize service efficiency through systematic policy innovations, providing institutional support for high-quality development. The Opinions center on enhancing collaborative innovation capabilities among industry, academia, and research institutions. By expanding the autonomy of universities and research institutes in intellectual property disposal and improving revenue distribution mechanisms, it promotes the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. At the same time, it drives the standardized development of intellectual property services, strengthens grassroots supervision, and maintains the industry ecosystem by delegating patent agency regulatory authority to municipal levels, establishing a credit evaluation system, and combating predatory low-price competition. In terms of market-oriented transaction mechanisms, it improves value assessment standards, promotes pilot programs for intellectual property pledge financing, encourages financial product innovation, and accelerates the establishment of a unified trading market to enhance asset liquidity. On the legal protection front, it prioritizes revising the Trademark Law to curb malicious squatting, explores rules for data intellectual property protection, and improves the efficiency of rights confirmation through optimized patent and trademark examination models (such as priority examination and expedited examination for graphic trademarks). In international collaboration, it deepens cooperation with Belt and Road countries, promotes the sharing of examination information and the establishment of overseas rights protection assistance mechanisms to help enterprises address cross-border disputes. Additionally, the Opinions set a target for 2027, requiring significant improvements in the convenience of government services, such as reducing the patent amendment examination cycle to one month, shortening trademark transfer examination to 40 days, and fully implementing the notification and commitment system to reduce institutional transaction costs. These measures systematically integrate innovation incentives, industry regulation, the improvement of the rule of law and international coordination, and build a whole-chain and multi-dimensional ecological system for the protection and application of intellectual property rights for market entities.
2. Original policy
Opinions on Further Optimizing the Business Environment in the Intellectual Property Field by the National Intellectual Property Administration, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, State Administration for Market Regulation, Financial Regulatory Commission, National Copyright Administration, and Chinese Academy of Sciences
State Intellectual Property Office Service Word [2025] No.5
Provincial, autonomous region, municipal and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps departments in charge of intellectual property, education, science and technology, market supervision and copyright, regulatory bureaus of the State Administration for Financial Regulation, and units under the Chinese Academy of Sciences:
To thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council regarding business environment optimization and the overall requirements for intellectual property work, this guideline is formulated to promptly address the expectations of the public and business entities. It aims to continuously reduce institutional transaction costs, further strengthen policy support and service guarantees for business entities, contribute to creating a world-class business environment, and better promote high-quality development.
I. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we adhere to the combination of problem-oriented and goal-oriented approaches, uphold the dual-wheel drive of institutional innovation and digital empowerment, and coordinate online and offline efforts. By benchmarking against international advanced practices and focusing on creating a first-class business environment, we advance the market-oriented, rule-of-law, internationalized, and convenient development of the business environment in the field of intellectual property. We concentrate on the needs of innovative development and the concerns of business entities, further optimize the business environment in the field of intellectual property, better leverage the institutional role of intellectual property in stimulating innovation domestically and promoting openness internationally, and fully unleash the endogenous motivation and vitality of all types of entities for innovation and creation.
By 2027, the intellectual property sector will achieve significant progress in market-oriented, rule-of-law, internationalized, and streamlined business environment development. The quality of IP creation, application efficiency, protection effectiveness, management standards, and service capabilities will be comprehensively enhanced. Government services in intellectual property will be further optimized, with continuous improvement in public satisfaction and tangible benefits for businesses and citizens. The sectors role in fostering high-quality development through its business-friendly ecosystem will become increasingly prominent.
2. Improve the market mechanism of intellectual property rights and help build a high-standard market system
(1) Strengthening Intellectual Property Innovation Incentives. Develop a knowledge-value-oriented distribution system by expanding universities and research institutions autonomy in transferring, licensing, or valuing intellectual property for investment, thereby facilitating its commercialization. Enhance standardized management of service inventions and deepen reforms in technology transfer rights. Establish equi profit-sharing mechanisms among institutions, researchers, and technology transfer agencies, while improving patent commercialization processes with due diligence exemption and error-tolerance mechanisms. Promote deep industry-academia-research collaboration by providing guidance on drafting intellectual property clauses in cooperation agreements, guiding stakeholders to establish clear terms regarding organizational structures, task allocation, funding, IP ownership, benefit distribution, risk sharing, and liability for breach of contract. Support universities and research institutions in establishing intellectual property management funds and operational capital. (Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, National Intellectual Property Administration, National Copyright Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, responsible according to their respective mandates)
(2) Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Intellectual Property Services. We will actively advance the delegated supervision of patent agency services by transferring provincial-level regulatory functions to municipal (including district-level cities) authorities, thereby strengthening grassroots oversight. Comprehensive credit evaluations for patent and trademark agencies will be conducted, with assessment results promptly disclosed to guide enterprises and the public in ing service providers. Standardized management of copyright agency services will be enhanced. Law enforcement, credit supervision, and penalties for illegal intellectual property practices will be intensified in accordance with regulations. Self-regulatory rules for intellectual property agencies will be refined to strictly curb market-disrupting behaviors such as predatory pricing and improper commitments, ensuring a healthy industry ecosystem. (National Administration for Market Regulation, National Intellectual Property Administration, National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(3) Enhancing Market-Based Pricing and Transaction Mechanisms for Intellectual Property. Improve intellectual property valuation standards by continuously releasing statistical data on patent licensing and copyright registration, guiding patent holders to scientifically and reasonably estimate licensing fees. Pilot internal evaluation systems for intellectual property-backed bank financing, assisting financial institutions in strengthening their independent assessment capabilities. Encourage innovation in financial products such as intellectual property insurance and credit guarantees to fully leverage financial support for IP commercialization. Accelerate the establishment of intellectual property trading markets to enhance asset liquidity and transaction efficiency, promoting standardized IP transactions. (National Financial Regulatory Administration, National Intellectual Property Administration, National Copyright Administration, responsible according to their respective duties)
(IV) Strengthening Collaborative Intellectual Property Protection. Enhance protection of original innovations by private SMEs. Strengthen administrative law enforcement to combat intellectual property infringements. Improve mechanisms for transferring administrative adjudication cases, assisting investigations, and executing intellectual property rulings, while establishing rapid infringement response systems and coordinated protection mechanisms between central and local governments. Develop a credit supervision system for intellectual property, standardize criteria and procedures for identifying entities with serious misconduct, and impose penalties in accordance with laws and regulations. Utilize the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System to consolidate and disclose information on trademark registrations, patent filings, intellectual property pledges, administrative approvals, and penalties involving enterprises. Intensify anti-monopoly enforcement to prevent and curb abuses of intellectual property rights that exclude or restrict competition, safeguard fair market competition, and promote innovation. (National Administration for Market Regulation, National Intellectual Property Administration, National Copyright Administration, responsible according to their respective duties)
(5) Promoting Synergistic Innovation Between Standards and Patents. Strengthen the coordination between patent examination and standard development by formulating patent policy guidelines for promoted standards, guiding innovators to integrate proprietary intellectual property technical specifications. Develop licensing guidelines for standard-essential patents to ensure fair and reasonable licensing practices, preventing enterprises from abusing these patents for monopolistic purposes. Establish a dedicated for standard-essential patents to streamline information access channels. (National Administration for Market Regulation and National Intellectual Property Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
Third, we will strengthen legal protection of intellectual property rights to better support comprehensive innovation
(6) Enhance intellectual property legislation. Accelerate the revision and legislative review of the Trademark Law and its implementing regulations, strengthen trademark usage obligations, and further regulate malicious squatting and related practices. Expedite the revision of supporting regulations for the Copyright Law. Improve regulations governing integrated circuit layout designs. Advance specialized legislation for geographical indications, establishing a unified protection system that coordinates with trademark protection. Guide the development of local intellectual property regulatory frameworks. (National Intellectual Property Administration and National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(7) Strengthen intellectual property protection frameworks in emerging fields. Advance research on IP protection mechanisms for frontier technologies and ensure robust safeguards for new sectors. Conduct pilot programs to deepen data IP governance and accelerate the establishment of standardized data protection protocols. Explore improvements to open-source standards by developing compliance frameworks for IT open-source IP and codification guidelines for community contributions, thereby enhancing IP protection in open-source ecosystems. (National Intellectual Property Administration and National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective mandates)
(8) Innovating Diversified Patent and Trademark Examination Models. By integrating priority examination and other review mechanisms to support breakthroughs in core technologies, we will expand the pre-examination scope of local intellectual property protection centers based on regional development needs and key industrial demands, better meeting the fast-track patent confirmation needs of innovators. We will optimize the expedited trademark registration review process, allowing accelerated processing for graphic trademarks, while improving priority review rulings during trademark rejection appeals and opposition applications to better protect stakeholders rights. Accelerating the establishment of a collaborative trademark examination evaluation mechanism will continuously enhance review quality and efficiency. (National Intellectual Property Administration responsible)
(9) Refine patent and trademark examination regulations. Publish the "Patent Application Guidelines" and typical cases of non-standard patent applications to guide quality improvement. Strengthen the quality monitoring and trigger-based regulatory mechanism centered on rectifying non-standard patent applications, enabling targeted enforcement and precise policy implementation. Establish a conflict resolution mechanism for business names and abbreviations with trademark rights, while enhancing regulatory oversight. Under data security safeguards, promote the sharing and application of patent/trademark information with business entity data, deepen collaboration between trademark examination and business entity registration in relevant fields, explore mechanisms for marking and disposing of expired registered trademarks, and promptly release trademark registration resources to address registration challenges. (National Administration for Market Regulation and National Intellectual Property Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(10) Improve the copyright registration system and mechanisms. Promote the establishment of a unified national copyright registration framework, further standardizing procedures for work registration, computer software copyright registration, copyright pledge registration, registration of foreign-related copyright contracts, and filing of exclusive licensing agreements and transfer contracts. Refine copyright registration standards, research the development of a copyright data service platform, enhance digitalization of copyright registration processes, and gradually achieve online processing of copyright registrations. Strengthen systems for public disclosure, data reporting, and statistical analysis of copyright registrations. Drive integrated copyright registration, inquiry, monitoring, and rights protection to provide more efficient and convenient services for related industries. (National Copyright Administration responsible)
IV. Enhancing the internationalization of intellectual property services and vigorously promoting opening-up
(11) Deepen international exchanges in the field of public services. Continue to strengthen cooperation with intellectual property examination institutions of various countries and deepen the sharing of examination information. Promote cooperation with Belt and Road countries and regions on intellectual property information and data resource projects. Support qualified Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) in conducting international exchanges of intellectual property information public services. Encourage high-level foreign institutions to provide intellectual property services in China. Deepen international cooperation on geographical indications, encourage research on foreign language versions of geographical indication-related standards, and enhance the international influence of Chinas geographical indication brands. Guide and support Chinese enterprises in enhancing the added value and competitiveness of their trademark brands, improving the international operation capabilities of trademark brands, and shaping a positive image of Chinese trademark brands. Continue to strengthen cooperation with copyright departments of various countries to enhance the influence and voice of copyright. (The National Intellectual Property Administration and the National Copyright Administration are responsible according to their respective duties)
(12) Strengthen guidance on addressing overseas intellectual property disputes. Encourage local governments to establish intellectual property guidance stations in countries and regions with frequent trade exchanges. Through overseas intellectual property dispute response sub-centers, provide enterprises with professional and efficient guidance services for overseas dispute resolution. Compile industry-specific lists of key export enterprises and enhance rights protection assistance. Support insurance institutions in developing more overseas intellectual property insurance products, promote the establishment of overseas intellectual property rights protection funds, and help enterprises reduce litigation costs. Timely collect and publish information on foreign intellectual property legal systems, build s of overseas intellectual property litigation cases, conduct case analysis studies, and provide information support for enterprises to address cross-border intellectual property disputes. Strengthen the cultivation of foreign-related intellectual property legal service institutions, enhance the development of international intellectual property legal talent teams, and improve the professionalism and relevance of overseas dispute resolution guidance for enterprises. (The State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Intellectual Property Administration, and the National Copyright Administration are responsible according to their respective duties)
V. Promoting the facilitation of intellectual property government services and improving the efficiency of benefiting enterprises and the public
(13) Promote process optimization and model innovation. Continuously reduce processing cycles for patent and trademark changes. Generally, record item modifications involving patent rights transfer should complete review within one month, while trademark transfers and changes should undergo initial review within 40 and 20 days respectively. Fully implement notification-commitment processing for patent fee reductions, improve post-verification and risk prevention mechanisms, and further streamline administrative procedures for businesses and citizens. Leveraging the resource aggregation advantages of regional government service centers and platforms, promote "one-form application, one-set materials, one-window acceptance" for enterprise registration and trademark changes. Explore integrated processing of intellectual property services with other departmental operations closely linked to enterprise lifecycle stages, providing more "one-stop service" solutions. Standardize the National Intellectual Property Administrations government service hotline, continuously improve call connection rates and responder competency, establish a "respond immediately upon complaint" mechanism, and better utilize the hotline as a direct service window for businesses and citizens to promptly address concerns and suggestions. (State Administration for Market Regulation and National Intellectual Property Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(14) Deepening Digital Empowerment of Public Services. Leveraging the National Intellectual Property Protection Information Platform and Copyright Information Platforms, we will establish exclusive service portals for right holders to enable one-click access to all registered patents, trademarks, copyrights, geographical indications, and integrated circuit layout designs. These platforms will provide timely reminders regarding payment deadlines and service progress. By exploring applications of natural language large models, we aim to enhance the intent recognition and precision response capabilities of online intelligent customer service, optimizing services such as smart Q&A, intelligent search, and automated guidance to better assist businesses and citizens in efficient administrative procedures. Accelerating the development of the National Intellectual Property Digital Comprehensive Public Service Platform will deepen data sharing and business collaboration between intellectual property and sectors including economy, technology, administrative law enforcement, judicial protection, and market regulation. This initiative will further promote the sharing and application of electronic certificate data, achieving cross-regional and cross-departmental interoperability and mutual recognition of digital certificates. (National Intellectual Property Administration and National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(15) Optimize the public service system for intellectual property rights that benefits citizens and enterprises. Continuously improve the intellectual property service network, further enhance the service efficiency of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC), National Intellectual Property Information Service Centers of universities, and national intellectual property information service outlets, and strengthen support for strategic scientific and technological forces and key industries. Support intellectual property service institutions in establishing service stations in key industrial parks and science parks to achieve full coverage of intellectual property public services in key parks. Publish national standards for intellectual property public services to promote uniform acceptance and standardized processing of intellectual property matters nationwide. Strengthen trademark and brand public services by conducting trademark information analysis and utilization, and guide public service institutions to increase support for regional brand development and enterprise brand growth. (National Intellectual Property Administration and National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
(16) Standardize Service Evaluation and Assessment. Establish a regular government-enterprise communication mechanism, conduct public satisfaction evaluations for intellectual property services, launch an online "Good or Bad Evaluation" system for IP government services, and promptly publish assessment results. Develop a service evaluation mechanism that integrates assessment, rectification, feedback, and supervision throughout the entire process. Adhere to the orientation of high-quality development, optimize the design of IP-related evaluation indicators, and refrain from directly incorporating quantitative metrics such as IP registration, authorization, and transfer transactions evaluation criteria. Accelerate the transition of IP work from quantity-focused approaches to quality-oriented improvements. (National Intellectual Property Administration and National Copyright Administration responsible according to their respective duties)
VI. Organizational safeguards
The National Intellectual Property Administration, in collaboration with relevant departments, will strengthen coordination, refine operational mechanisms, and deepen data sharing to ensure the effective implementation of reform measures. Through diverse approaches, it will provide policy interpretation, guide public opinion, and summarize best practices. Focusing on the achievements in building a world-class business environment in intellectual property, the administration will promptly compile and promote exemplary experiences and innovative practices that optimize the business climate. Various forms of publicity and reporting will be conducted to foster a positive social and public opinion environment. Regions should implement these initiatives while adapting to local development realities, actively innovating and piloting reforms to drive breakthrough progress in optimizing the business environment within the intellectual property sector.
State Intellectual Property Office Ministry of Education
State Administration for Market Regulation, Ministry of Science and Technology
State Administration for Financial Regulation and National Copyright Administration
Academia Sinica
March 13,2025
