Chinese companies see IP disputes rise 4.6% to over 1,000 in US

Chinese companies faced a total of 1,227 new intellectual property disputes in the United States last year, reflecting a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year, according to a report made public by the China Intellectual Property Society on Wednesday.

The report detailed that among these lawsuits, 587 were related to patents, 668 involved trademarks, and 16 concerned business secrets. The findings were based on an investigation into overseas IP disputes involving Chinese enterprises over the past year.

The report highlighted that in the US, patent and trademark lawsuits involving Chinese enterprises were predominantly concentrated in the wholesale and retail industries, and most of these companies were based in the provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

Additionally, the report noted that Chinese companies were involved in 1,302 cross-border e-commerce disputes in the US last year, with 1,165 of them being defendants in these cases.

The report also mentioned that last year, Chinese enterprises faced 92 new patent and trademark lawsuits in other countries and regions.

Moreover, the IP society provided insights into overseas IP lawsuits involving Chinese entities in key sectors such as biopharmaceuticals, information and communications, and new energy vehicles. Notably, in 2024, Chinese new energy vehicle companies faced nine new patent disputes in the US, marking a significant year-on-year increase of 350 percent.