China’s National Intellectual Property Administration is a cabinet-level agency ranking just below a ministry. Its functions are defined by the intellectual property policy of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee.

Component Agencies

(1) Treaty Law Division: Coordinates and facilitates international treaty agreements and negotiations.

(2) Strategic Planning Division: Formulates policies for intellectual property strategy with the aim of making China a major intellectual property power. Carries out predictive analysis and provides early warnings of intellectual property risks.

(3) Intellectual Property Protection Division: Responsible for establishing an effective system to protect intellectual property. It drafts the trademark and patent infringement determination standards and testing standards for enforcement actions. Provides administrative law judgment for trademark trials, patent reexaminations, and revocations. The division also provides enforcement protection for geographical indications of origin, integrated circuit designs, and exposition and Olympic games signs, as well as guidance for intellectual property disputes, assistance with infringement claims, and mediation for disputes.

(4) Intellectual Property Promotion Division: Designs policy systems to drive creativity and application of intellectual property rights. Standardizes appraisal methods for intangible intellectual property rights assets. Develops policies to govern intellectual property transactions and oversees intellectual property brokerages.

(5) International Affairs Division (and Hong Kong/Macau Office): Coordinates transnational intellectual property matters. Researches trends in the field of international intellectual property rights.