China's recent work in the field of intellectual property rights will focus on strengthening protection. This is of great significance for the right holders. Here are a series of recent cases show strong protection for foreign brands and other IP rights.

    On Jan 29,2021,a preliminary temporary injunction was issued by the Intermediate People's Court of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province against the infringers to order them to stop using the “BANEBERRY”,,  and  trademarks and other promotional activities related to unfair competition before hearing the case to protect Burberry Limited’s trademarks.

    A decision was issued by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai that the court ruled the Chinese company Jordan Sports Company should change its company’name and pay RMB300,000 mental damage compensation because of violating the name of the famous sports star Jordan in December,2020. And the trademarks “乔丹”（the Chinese translation of Jordan）registered by Jordan Sports Company on clothes and shoes were declared invalidation in the administrative trademark litigation held by the Supreme Court in March,2020.

    The People's Court of Pudong New Area in Shanghai made a first-instance judgment on the unfair competition dispute case involving New Balance brand in April, 2020. In addition to stopping the unfair competition behavior and making a public statement to eliminate the influence, the Chinese company New Barlun Company should compensate for the economic loss of 10 million RMB and reasonable expenses of 800,000 RMB.

    That is a strong signal demonstrating the trend and resolutions that the courts and the government to protect intellectual property rights in China. China has made IPR protection as a national strategy. As the Judge Song yushui, vice dean of Beijing Intellectual Property Court, said” There must be a reverence for intellectual property, because the era of counterfeiting is gone”.

    The magazine Qiushi recently published an article by the national leader entitled "Strengthening IPR Protection in an All-round Way, Stimulating Innovation and Building a New Development Landscape". The article stresses that "strict intellectual property protection system should be implemented, the quality and efficiency of intellectual property examination should be improved, and the infringement of legitimate rights and interests, especially the infringement of intellectual property, should be resolutely punished according to law. The punitive compensation system should be introduced to significantly increase the cost of infringement and illegal cost and deter illegal infringement."

    As the Chinese government emphasizes the protection of intellectual property rights, it will create a good legal environment for foreign companies to protect their rights. This is also a good chance for foreign enterprises to establish their rights protection strategies including carrying out the litigations plan in China. Also, with the improvement of the environment, FTO or other legal risk evaluation work can be considered.