【GE CHENG News】Interpretation of the IP content of the Supreme People's Court's Work Report: Building a great power of automobile through IP protection
2026-05-08
1. Data insights: broader coverage and deeper protection offer guidance for automotive industry entities
In 2025, there were courts 496,000 intellectual property cases concluded nationwide, representing a 0.3% year-on-year increase despite the large case base. What’s more noteworthy to focus is the leap in quality indicators:
| Core indicator | Data | Year-on-Year Change |
| IP Cases Concluded | 496,000 | +0.3% |
| Number of people sentenced for IP crimes | 19,000 | +6.2% |
| Foreign-related IP Cases (cumulative during 14th Five-Year Plan) | 49,000 | +115.9% compared to 13th Five-Year Plan |
| Disputes over data ownership and transactions | 908 | +25.6% |
| Disputes over personal information protection | 915 | +65% |
The slowed growth rate of cases (the growth rate of concluded IP cases in 2024 was 0.9%) contrasts with the explosive growth in the protection of new types of rights such as data rights and personal information, indicating the expanding scope of judicial protection from traditional intellectual property to broader data rights. Moreover, according to statistics from a coastal region, the number of IP-related cases in the automotive area has increased by nearly 80% in recent years, a growth rate significantly higher than the national average. On one hand, it reflects the increasing innovation activity in the automotive industry and the growing urgency for IP protection from enterprises. On the other hand, it also indicates the strong support role of IP protection provides for the high-quality development of the automotive industry.
2. AI IP: providing technological innovation with room for error while clearly underlying legal boundaries to empower the intelligent transformation of the automotive industry
As a key application scenario for "AI+", the automotive industry is becoming a surge in intellectual property disputes related to intelligent driving algorithms, in-vehicle AI systems, and AI-assisted automobile design, making it a new focus of judicial protection. The work report discloses two typical types of cases where technological neutrality is protected and where technology abuse is regulated, both of which are applicable to judicial practice in the automotive AI area.
3. Direction of IP Protection in 2026: to promote the upgrading and quality improvement of the automotive industry
The Report highlights 5 key areas for IP work this year. In combination with the development needs of the automotive industry, the specific implications for IP protection in the automotive field are as follows:
| Areas | Keywords | Expected actions |
| Technological innovation | Supporting innovation-driven development | Improve the trial mechanism for technology-related cases, focus on protecting IP rights in “bottleneck” sectors, and refine the trial mechanism for automotive technology cases, support technological innovation in the automotive industry |
Digital economy | Standardizing "AI" development | Issue judicial interpretations related to AI, make clear the boundaries of IP protection for AI training systems, intelligent driving algorithms, and AI-assisted automobile design, regulates the use of automotive AI training data, promotes the intelligent transformation of the automotive industry |
Market competition | Strengthening anti- monopoly and anti- unfair competition | Regulate competition order in the automotive market, prevent "bullying of the small by the large," protect the innovation rights and interests of small and medium-sized automakers, and promote the establishment of automotive industry IP innovation alliances |
Private economy | Implementing Private Sector Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China | Equally protect IP for all types of enterprises, prevent and regulate "bullying of the small by the large"; Equally protect IP for state-owned and private automobile enterprises, and encourage private automobile enterprises to increase investment in innovation |
Overseas rights protection | Accelerating the development of overseas rights protection system | Improve the mechanism for resolving foreign-related automotive intellectual property disputes, help Chinese automotive companies in protecting their rights when "going global," enhance China's discursive power in automotive IP protection, and provide legal support for automakers' overseas patent strategies. |
From AutoIP
March 11th, 2026