On July 28, the Jiangsu Provincial Intellectual Property Office, the Provincial Market Regulation Administration, and the Provincial Copyright Bureau jointly issued the Jiangsu Province AI OPC Intellectual Property Compliance Guidelines (Suzhifa [2026] No. 42), marking a significant step in establishing a regional compliance framework for this emerging business model. This initiative is a concrete measure to implement the province's "AI+" Action Plan and supportive policies for AI OPC innovation, and it stands as the first provincial-level IP compliance guide for OPCs in the country.

OPC, or One Person Company, represents a new type of enterprise in the AI era characterized by "one-person operation, multi-party collaboration, rapid iteration, and flexible innovation." These entities often face challenges such as "insufficient understanding of rules, weak awareness of protection, and limited capacity for rights enforcement" in areas like trademark strategy, patent protection, AIGC content ownership, trade secret safeguards, and training data compliance. The Guidelines aim to provide these companies with a comprehensive, specific, and actionable intellectual property compliance manual and risk mitigation guide.

The Guidelines cover the full lifecycle compliance management of trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and data intellectual property rights. Tailored to the characteristics and needs of AI OPCs, it offers a clear protection logic: trademarks protect brands, patents protect technological innovation outcomes, copyrights protect original content, trade secrets protect undisclosed technical and business information, and data IP rights protect data interests. A dedicated chapter on generative AI details the full commercial process specifications for AIGC, requiring companies to verify commercial authorization scope before using AI-generated content, to prominently label AI-generated content for public disclosure, and to maintain complete records of prompts, iteration logs, and other related files.

The Guidelines also clarify the data set protection pathway for AI OPCs. Companies can register for free through the provincial data IP registration system, and registration certificates, valid for three years, can be renewed upon application. Furthermore, recognizing the lightweight operational nature of OPCs, the Guidelines specify that the company's legal representative serves as the primary responsible person for IP compliance. It advises that OPCs do not need to replicate the complex management systems of large enterprises but can instead establish simple, lightweight compliance records to oversee various aspects of daily IP management. In the next phase, provincial IP, market regulation, and copyright management departments will conduct a series of activities, including public seminars, compliance diagnostics, and service对接, to promote the effective implementation of the Guidelines and support the standardized and healthy development of AI OPC innovation entities.