On March 28, 2018, the Beijing High Court issued its decision for Iwncomm v. Sony, a high profile case concerning infringement of a standard essential patent (SEP). The appellate court amended the trial judgment on some key findings, but still upheld a permanent injunction and damages of about CNY 9 million (USD 1.3 million). This case has received widespread attention and sparked discussion of both IP professionals and the telecommunication industry. The Beijing High Court’s reasoning and conclusions will be likely to impact on SEP licensing negotiations generally.

On October 8, 2017, the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council jointly issued a special opinion on the reform of drug and medical device approval system. The Innovation Opinion together with an earlier China Food and Drug Administration document issued in May 2017, propose that China is to establish a U.S. style patent linkage system for its drug regulatory scheme.

Intellectual property is a significant property in China and IP right is a very important right rec­ognised and protected by Chinese law. In recent de­cades, China has established its legislative framework for IP protection, including the Copyright Law , the Trademark Law, the Patent Law , and the Anti-unfair Competition Law. To enforce the IP Law, Chinese government has well established multiple administrative and judicial authorities, which could be deemed as one of the char­acteristics of Chinese IP enforcement.