China's Supreme People's Procuratorate said it will further strengthen specialized case-handling bodies and talent teams, improve mechanisms for comprehensive prosecutorial performance and intensify punishment for intellectual property rights crimes.

The pledge was made in the White Paper on Intellectual Property Prosecution Work (2025), released on Tuesday.

According to the white paper, procuratorates nationwide accepted and reviewed 11,341 cases involving 25,160 people suspected of IPR-related crimes in 2025. Prosecutors filed charges in 9,135 cases involving 19,102 people, while 5,105 people were not prosecuted.

In addition, procuratorial organs handled 1,251 civil IPR cases and 1,795 administrative cases. They also received 741 leads related to public interest litigation in the IPR field and filed 612 cases.

The SPP said procuratorates will improve the quality and effectiveness of supervision over civil and administrative litigation, steadily explore public interest litigation involving intellectual property and strengthen oversight of malicious IPR lawsuits.

The white paper said prosecutors have focused on emerging and future industries such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, new energy, high-end equipment and biomedicine. By strengthening criminal judicial protection for original corporate innovation and core technologies, procuratorates have helped create a better legal environment for advancing high-level technological self-reliance.

In response to the growing number and complexity of trade secret infringement cases, procuratorates also stepped up guidance and coordination for lower-level offices.

One example cited in the white paper was a trade secret case involving chip technology handled under the guidance of the SPP in Shanghai. In the case, a criminal surnamed Zhang and 13 others were found to have infringed trade secrets involving more than 40 items of technical information valued at 317 million yuan ($46.5 million). Prosecutors said they accurately identified the legal nature of the case and punished the unlawful acquisition and use of the rights holder's core technical secrets. All defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, with Zhang, the principal offender, receiving six years in prison.

The white paper also said procuratorates have strengthened civil and administrative supervision over technology-related cases involving patents, integrated circuit layout designs, new plant varieties and computer software. Prosecutors increased scrutiny of the legal basis of rights in such cases, carried out investigations and verifications, and made fuller use of technical assistance systems to improve the quality and efficiency of fact-finding in complex technical matters.

Last year, the SPP formally established its intellectual property procuratorial department. Since then, procuratorates at all levels have continued to strengthen the development of specialized IPR institutions and case-handling bodies.

The SPP also issued measures on the management of technical investigation officers and appointed the first group of 60 officers, covering key fields including mechanics, chemistry, biology, medicine and electronic communications. The group guided local procuratorates to improve support mechanisms such as technical investigation officers, specially invited assistant prosecutors and expert consultation, in order to provide stronger professional support and enhance their ability to handle complex technology-related cases.