China's customs agency accepted roughly 7,500 online registrations for IPR applications in 2015. 5,600 were approved, and nearly 2,900 were by domestic applicants. Experts say it signals a big improvement in Chinese enterprises' IPR awareness.
Lawyer Yang Kai has been dealing with cases related to intellectual property rights for over 20 years. And he's getting more and more cases these years.
"There are a lot of cases on the competition between domestic intellectual property rights and foreign intellectual property, including disputes between overseas enterprises in China," Lawyer Yang said.
Yang said most lost lawsuits are due to lax supervision during the process of outsourcing production and insufficient understanding of foreign intellectual property rights.
"The contractor's IPR should be reviewed, that is to say, whether they have the right to make the order and process the brand in China, if it is their brand. This is essential. If possible we'd better further check if the brand has already registered in China," Lawyer Yang said.
Since November last year, the General Administration of Customs of China has suspended IPR registration fees. The move has prompted the number of daily registrations to rise by 100 percent in the short term.