China sees remarkable progress in IP protection in E-commerce, according to the 2019 China Research Report on E-Commerce Intellectual Property Development, released on December 12. A joint of production of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the report is authored by CNIPA's IP Development and Research Center with support from CNIPA's IP Protection Department and MOC's Department of E-commerce and Informatization.

The report reviews IP protection and governance in China's e-commerce during the year, evaluates and summarizes practical experiences of IP protection in e-commerce from aspects such as IP protection data, governance challenges and results of mainstream e-commerce platforms and proposes a 'Four Ruleds' concept namely, ruled by law, ruled by platform's actions, ruled based on public consensus and ruled with wisdom. The report underlines that through great efforts in improving protection rules and system, establishing a multi-governance model and increasing investment in the R&D and application of anti-counterfeiting technologies, China has achieved notable results in IP protection in the field of e-commerce. The multi-governance model, which is the transformation direction as well as highlights of governance of E-commerce IP protection calls for more cooperation and exchanges among various parties to promote innovation and upgrade. In addition, in terms of government-enterprise cooperation, at present, 13 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in the Yangtze River Delta and Pan-Pearl River Delta have established systems such as clue notification, evidence transfer, case co-examination, joint case handling and mutual recognition of inspection and evaluation results and relied on e-commerce platforms' online transaction big data to combat infringement and counterfeiting. E-commerce platforms work together with right holders to build a public review mechanism, achieve online dispute determination and improve the effectiveness of IP protection.

Han Xiucheng, director of the CNIPA, said that at present, e-commerce has become China's economic development model with great potential and international competitiveness. Along with the increasingly prominent status and role of the contemporary national economy, a series of problems and challenges have emerged in E-commerce IP protection. This report for the first time summarizes the IP protection and development of China's e-commerce based on the 'Four Ruleds'. In the future, the report will continue to research on this subject and will be released regularly every year.