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Intellectual property in China

Intellectual property in China
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Intellectual property in China. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Pop Mart’s Pop Land theme park in Beijing. Photo: AFP
Pop Mart

China’s Pop Mart eyes expansion at home and abroad for its Pop Land theme park

The company’s sole theme park in Beijing will launch its upgraded Labubu Forest Zone on Thursday.

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance adds watermarking, IP checks to Seedance 2.0 ahead of global launch

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China consumption

Chinese bubble tea chain Mixue straps in for theme park project

US-China tech war

US ruling on Insta360 infringing GoPro patent has no impact on current offerings

The ruling does not affect Insta360’s current offerings as the ban on camera design infringement only affects legacy models.

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A combo pic of GoPro 13 (left) and Insta360 Ace Pro action camera. Photo: Shutterstock
Pop Mart

Pop Mart’s Merodi Hong Kong debut highlights challenges of sustaining IP success

Toymaker’s latest character launch draws tepid demand, raising questions about the company’s reliance on Labubu’s success.

Artificial intelligence

China’s tech giants pursue AI, semiconductor talent in US amid fierce rivalry

ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba Cloud and MiniMax are among the firms now actively recruiting fresh talent in the US.

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Technology

China dominates global patent race with record filings

China filed nearly half of all patents worldwide in 2024, outpacing the US by more than threefold, WIPO data show.

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Computer technology remains the most frequently featured field in published patent applications worldwide. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China trade war

Explainer | What are Section 337 investigations, and why is China so concerned about them?

The US intellectual property probes are a potent tool that can lead to total bans on certain products. Many of them target Chinese firms.

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China manufacturing

China closes biotech gap with US as new drugs, pipelines top 30% of global total

Beijing has ramped up support for the bioeconomy with a five-year plan aimed at making the country a global leader by 2035.

Hong Kong economy

Editorial | Global IP treaty can help Hong Kong secure its creative edge

As the city exports more of its proprietary products and services, especially from its creative industries, IP protection is timely and necessary.

Panda dolls at the gift shop in Ocean Park on August 16, 2024. Photo: Jelly Tse
Semiconductors

Beijing E-Town Semiconductor sues Applied Materials over tech infringement

The Chinese chip equipment maker is seeking US$14 million as compensation from its US competitor.

China accounted for 31 per cent of Applied Materials’ total revenue in the first quarter of 2025. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

China rejects OpenAI’s GPT-5 trademark application

Chinese regulators last year also denied OpenAI’s efforts to register ChatGPT and GPT as trademarks on the mainland.

Banking & finance

Pop Mart sues 7-Eleven stores in US for alleged Labubu trademark infringements

Convenience stores allegedly sell fake Labubu toys and products, hurting its business and reputation, Pop Mart says in California lawsuit.

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China-EU relations

WTO reverses parts of decision in EU-China intellectual property dispute

In April, WTO rejected the EU’s 2022 complaint that China had violated the global watchdog’s IP rules over patents for 3G, 4G and 5G tech.

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The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Reuters
China exports

Labubu mania

Beijing-based Pop Mart has become the world’s most-valuable listed toy company on the back of demand for Labubu, a Nordic-like elf that has won fans around the world.

Labubu goes viral
China economy

Opinion | Global hit Labubu was forged in the heat of China’s demanding market

In China’s demanding market that’s shifting towards emotionally driven spending, creative brands that succeed can look to conquer the world.

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Banking & finance

With The Monsters, Monkey King and Ne Zha, China IP businesses brace for growth

China’s IP sales are projected to grow at an annual rate of 17.2 per cent through 2029 after reaching US$1 billion in 2024, CICC says.

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China exports

China’s viral Labubu toy has an unlikely fan – the ruling Communist Party

Top theoretical journal says Pop Mart’s success shows China ‘has cultivated a robust innovation ecosystem’, with ‘seeds of creativity’ sprouting everywhere.

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A Labubu figurine is put on display at an exhibition in Beijing on June 6 ahead of an auction on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
Banking & finance

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart launches new pop culture magazine called Playground

Pop Mart’s new magazine, Playground, explores social connections and seeks to unlock opportunities for its intellectual properties.

US-China trade war

USTR’s comments on China in latest trade barriers report

Two days before additional tariffs were announced on ‘Liberation Day’, the US trade agency released a report detailing foreign countries’ policies deemed to be trade barriers. China took up one-eighth of the volume.

US-China relations

China unveils rule to fight ‘restrictive’ measures in international IP disputes

The regulation, aimed at striking back against external ‘containment and suppression’, appears to target the US and EU – without naming them.

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China is strengthening its trade defences and countermeasures as it faces pressure to protect its growing overseas assets. Photo: AFP
Science

East China court rules that AI-generated image should have copyright protection

In the second such case in mainland China, a court orders companies to apologise and pay damages for using plaintiff’s AI-generated art.

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A plaintiff in east China’s Jiangsu province has won a copyright case over an image created with the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney. Photo: AFP
Diplomacy

Brazil’s Lula chides Beijing, EU, US for practices that gave China its tech edge

The Brazilian president also hinted that he may file a WTO complaint against Washington’s tariffs.

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E-commerce

Temu, Shein branch deeper into selling toys during holiday shopping season

The two popular budget-shopping platforms are looking to win a bigger slice of the global market for toys.

Hong Kong economy

Opinion | How IP can unlock new horizons for Hong Kong’s small businesses

By embracing intellectual property, SMEs and start-ups can unleash their full potential, attract investment and expand into global markets.

People interact at an event for small business owners from Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities organised by the Foundation for Shared Impact in September. Photo: SCMP
Semiconductors

Chinese power chipmaker Innoscience found to have infringed rival’s patent

The US International Trade Commission rules that Innoscience infringed one of the patents of American firm Efficient Power Conversion Corp.

Innoscience Technology makes high-performance, low-cost gallium-nitride-on-silicon power chips. Photo: Innoscience
China economy

Opinion | China’s path to sustainable growth goes beyond economic stimulus

The path to sustained growth requires an approach that goes beyond short-term intervention and addresses underlying issues.

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US-China relations

US suspicion of Chinese scientists persists

Decades of scientific cooperation between the US and China have fallen into disrepair as Chinese scientists in the US are probed for ties to Beijing. Even though a 2018 Trump China Initiative to unmask espionage and intellectual property theft was scrapped in 2022, Chinese scientists continue to feel unwelcome.

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