Recent Developments in China’s Antimonopoly Regulations on Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract

Over the past decade, while strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, China has also explored means to regulate the abuse of IPRs. IPR protection in China is mainly based on the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML), in particular Article 55. Recent years have seen more and more judicial and administrative enforcement practices related to China’s antimonopoly regulation on the abuse of IPRs. Provisions on the Prohibition of the Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate or Restrict Competition was released on April 7, 2015, and the draft of Antimonopoly Guidelines in Relation to the Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights was released for public comment in early 2017. It can be expected that China’s antimonopoly guidelines on the regulation of abuses of IPRs will come out in the near future.