Fresh Judicial Interpretation on Criminal IP Cases Introduces Welcome Change in China

By Editorial Team

China’s Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate recently released a new interpretation on handling criminal cases involving intellectual property rights infringement. The interpretation, effective since April 26, 2025, supersedes previous versions and provides clarity on the implementation of relevant criminal law articles.

Revisions in the Criminal Law

The Criminal Law was revised in 2021 to expand the scope of counterfeiting registered marks to include service marks. The criteria for determining harm shifted from “causing major losses” to “serious circumstances,” focusing more on the conduct of the involved party. This change broadens the grounds for criminal prosecution.

Moreover, the amended law imposes harsher penalties, increasing the maximum term of imprisonment for various IP crimes. For instance, the maximum imprisonment term for counterfeiting trademarks rose from seven to 10 years.

Key Points of the New Interpretation

The 2025 Interpretation comprises 31 articles and addresses several aspects of criminal IP cases. It introduces new thresholds for counterfeiting service marks and defines conditions indicating the seller's knowledge of counterfeit goods. The interpretation also lowers entry thresholds for repeat offenders within two years of a prior IP-crime conviction.

Notably, the Interpretation closes the goods/labels separation loophole used by counterfeiters to evade prosecution. It also expands the scope of accomplice liability to include entities like payment processors and couriers.

Impact and Concerns

While the new Interpretation aligns criminal enforcement with current infringement scenarios, concerns remain regarding the impact on sentencing severity. By raising the threshold for “particularly serious” offenses and broadening leniency provisions, custodial sentences for IP crimes may become less common.

Overall, the 2025 Interpretation is seen as a positive step towards combating IP crimes in China. However, the true effects on sentencing severity will need to be observed over time.

This article is based on a co-published content by a selected partner of IAM.