The Office of the National Leading Group for Crackdown on Intellectual Property Infringements and Production and Sale of Counterfeit and Shoddy Goods has recently issued the 2019 Key Tasks on Nationwide Crackdown on Intellectual Property Infringements and Production and Sale of Counterfeit and Shoddy Goods (the "Key Tasks").
The Key Tasks outline 34 priorities in six aspects which, to be more specific, are: 1. remaining problem-oriented and deepening the crackdown in key fields; 2. persisting in law-based administration and intensifying law enforcement and regulation; 3. strengthening judicial protection and imposing severe punishment against offences related to infringements and counterfeits; 4. attaching equal importance to crackdown and the buildup of the social credit system and promoting the development of the long-term mechanism; 5. mobilizing different forces to make joint efforts at social governance; and 6. serving the general strategy of opening-up and deepening exchange and cooperation with foreign parties. According to the Key Tasks, special crackdown programs will be launched among markets on the internet and in rural areas and suburbs, to severely fight against infringements and counterfeits in relation to import/export business, and improve the protection of intellectual property rights held by foreign-invested enterprises. Also, harsher punishment will be imposed, in a bid to resolve a wide range of issues, including infringement of trade secrets, trademark squatting, unfair competition through the use of confusingly similar business marks, patent infringements and counterfeits, and online piracy.