A landmark piece of legislation designed to bolster the province's innovation ecosystem is set to take effect in September 2026. The new Gansu Province Intellectual Property Promotion and Protection Regulations marks the region's first comprehensive local law dedicated to intellectual property, according to officials at a policy briefing held on August 26.
Wang Xiaoyang, director of the Gansu Provincial Market Supervision Administration, highlighted significant progress made during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. High-value invention patents per 10,000 people tripled from 0.99 to 3, while valid trademark registrations jumped from 120,000 to 240,000. Patent pledge financing also surged from 3.13 billion yuan to 6.11 billion yuan, and the comprehensive output value of the geographical indication industry chain surpassed the 100-billion-yuan milestone for five consecutive years.
Despite these achievements, Wang acknowledged persistent challenges, including a limited supply of high-value IP, inefficient channels for commercializing scientific achievements locally, gaps in the full-chain protection mechanism, and grassroots public services that have yet to fully meet the needs of market entities. These shortcomings prompted the province to accelerate the legislative process and address systemic weaknesses across the entire IP lifecycle—from creation and application to protection, management, and services.
Gansu, having adopted such comprehensive IP regulations later than other provinces, took a collaborative approach during the drafting phase. In June 2024, a dedicated legislative team conducted field research in Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Ningxia to study their institutional achievements. This enabled Gansu to design a more complete and integrated framework, avoiding the fragmented path of piecemeal legislation seen elsewhere and achieving a more systematic and forward-looking structure through collective innovation.
To tackle the practical challenge of difficult evidence collection in IP infringement cases, the regulations introduce a series of institutional arrangements. He Wentao, director of the Gansu Provincial Intellectual Property Office, explained that technical investigation officers will be selected from relevant professional fields to provide expert opinions on technical facts and specialized issues, effectively addressing the bottlenecks of high specialization and complex technical fact-finding in IP cases.
The regulations also establish a comprehensive policy framework for regional brand development, supporting a full chain of cultivation, operation, promotion, and integration. This framework is designed to empower featured industries, cities, and regional images while fostering cultural and tourism brands. Specific measures include promoting the integration of regional brands like "Ganwei" and "Longzi Brand" into diversified sales channels such as rural tourism, e-commerce livestreaming, and physical supermarkets. The initiative also encourages new business models combining geographical indications with cultural tourism, trademarks with deep agricultural product processing, and cultural IP with creative consumer experiences.
Judicial protection is critical for the implementation of the regulations. Zhang Yangang, chief judge of the Third Civil Division of the Gansu Provincial High People's Court, stated that courts across the province will incorporate the spirit of the regulations into case adjudication. Drawing on local resources such as the seed industry, traditional Chinese medicine, and geographical indications, the judiciary will strengthen the guiding role of adjudication rules, balance rights protection with public interest, and deepen the coordination between judicial and administrative protection. This includes unifying enforcement and judicial standards, jointly publishing typical cases, and conducting legal awareness campaigns to cultivate a social atmosphere that respects innovation and upholds integrity.
Over the past three years, courts in Gansu have received a total of 9,583 new IP cases. Copyright, trademark, and patent disputes have continued to rise, with a notable increase in technology-related cases, reflecting a growing trend toward new industries and technologies. Zhang emphasized that the courts will focus on key areas of judicial protection, properly adjudicating disputes in high-tech fields such as seed sources and biopharmaceuticals. The technical investigation officer system will be fully utilized to resolve technical fact-finding issues. Copyright protection will be strengthened, with proactive responses to emerging digital-era challenges such as AI-generated images and short video background music infringement. Through adjudication of bulk cases, clear rules for copyright protection in the online environment will be established to support cultural innovation and development.