How far must one travel to reach the 'last mile' of service? How deeply must one engage to truly understand the front lines of the market? In Shanghai, grassroots intellectual property (IP) officers are making it their mission to walk into companies, ask probing questions to uncover their needs, and guide them through the complexities of protecting innovation.
These officers constantly immerse themselves in various industries, proactively solving problems and clearing obstacles for emerging fields of IP protection. By stepping into the core of innovation, they help businesses feel like the market is an extension of their own home, providing support that goes far beyond the usual administrative role.
Asking the Right Questions to Provide Direction and Options
'Where did this infringement occur? Have you secured the evidence? We can step in immediately.' In a meeting room at Shanghai Elite Hero E-sports Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Hero E-sports) in Huangpu District, a reporter's interview was suddenly interrupted by a rapid succession of questions. The reporter instantly deferred to Han Xiao, Head of the IP Section at the Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau (IP Office).
Discussing the company's recent IP protection priorities, Zhou Peipei, Director of the Legal Center at Hero E-sports, noted the rapid growth of its e-sports IP derivative products. However, the company has discovered that individuals and contract manufacturers are producing samples based on promotional images and rushing products to market, leading to significant revenue losses.
Li Shixuan, IP Manager at Hero E-sports, added, 'A few days ago, I saw a pre-sale link for one of our new products on Xiaohongshu, but by the time our business colleagues tried to collect evidence, the link was gone.' It was at this point that Han Xiao interjected with her series of questions.
'Our Huangpu District IP enforcement team has experience with this,' she explained. 'Now that you have a lead on the infringement, we can connect you with our enforcement officers to assist with evidence collection and rapid crackdowns.'
'Is there still a way to act if the link is gone?' Li Shixuan quickly asked. 'Yes,' Han replied. 'We can ask the platform to cooperate in retrieving data from the backend.' In just ten minutes, a significant problem for the company found a solution, simply because an IP officer took the initiative to ask a few extra questions.
'Working at the grassroots level requires going the extra mile. We can't assume that companies, when facing problems, will immediately know the solutions that we, within the system, have memorized by heart,' Han Xiao said. 'We must put ourselves in their shoes. Instead of watching them start with a blank slate, we should list the viable options and let them make a direct choice.'
In another instance, an officer from the Shanghai Pudong New Area IP Protection Center (Pudong Protection Center) advised a company: 'The applicant for an invention patent must be the person who made a creative contribution to the substantive features of the invention. With so many applicants on your core patent application, it's best to verify each person's contribution. Core patent inventors often correspond to a company's core technical team, which is part of assessing your company's technological attributes. Do you need our help to review this again?' The company representatives nodded in agreement.
In 2022, the Pudong Protection Center became the first in China to establish an 'IP Service Station for Companies Planning to List on the STAR Market.' This station helps companies solidify their 'hard tech' credentials and prepare for listing at the forefront of public IP services. 'It's incredibly difficult for a tech company to survive the challenges of innovation and entrepreneurship and reach the listing preparation stage,' said Gu Ting, Deputy Director of the Pudong Protection Center. 'But as the saying goes, a journey of a hundred miles is half completed at ninety. Our focus is on "confirming tech attributes." We help companies create lists, scrutinize details, fill gaps, and build advantages in the IP work that is critical for the STAR Market, helping them make the final push.'
On one hand, given the STAR Market's requirement that a company's main products must be strongly linked to its core patented technology, the Pudong Protection Center proactively guides companies in refining their patent strategies and structures. It also utilizes its fast-track pre-examination channel to help companies quickly build core patent portfolios that meet the market's requirements. On the other hand, the center regularly conducts IP infringement risk assessments and compliance guidance. Considering the company's industry, technology direction, and development stage, it thoroughly investigates potential risks like ownership disputes to help companies maintain IP compliance for their listing.
'Grassroots IP work is the best way to build genuine relationships with companies. They see us as their "third eye" for IP matters, hoping we can help them see the situation clearly, find problems, define their needs, and eliminate blind spots,' Gu Ting said. 'By doing this well, we can increase their awareness, recognition, and appreciation of IP work, helping them evolve from not knowing what to do to being very clear about what steps to take.'
Thinking Several Layers Ahead to Help Industries Breathe and Grow
In Xuhui District, multiple IP service stations, including the Yu Shi Model Worker Studio, the 'Smart Link West Bund' Procuratorate Workshop, and the Binjiang IP Protection Liaison Point, have been strategically located near innovation parks and deep within the neighborhoods where companies are based.
'Xuhui has seen rapid development in high-end manufacturing, AI, and cultural creativity, leading to more IP disputes from market competition. The Xuhui District People's Court hears about 1,000 IP lawsuits related to high-tech each year. This caseload shows the significant impact of IP on industry development,' said Yu Shi, Deputy Head of the Court's IP Trial Division.
'We've found that companies don't just want judges to explain the law after a trial. What they really hope for is practical IP legal guidance from the grassroots judiciary that considers the characteristics of industry competition and business operations,' Yu Shi added. This convergence of company needs and judicial functions towards 'prevention before problems arise' led to the founding of the Yu Shi Model Worker Studio in 2023.
The studio meticulously analyzes common industry issues, hosts 30 to 40 specialized IP law seminars annually, responds to urgent problems from local companies, strengthens pre-litigation mediation guidance for IP disputes to resolve them locally, and conducts on-site 'check-ups' at companies to highlight necessary IP risk warnings.
'IP work has another unique aspect,' Yu Shi noted. 'While IP is a private right, it's deeply intertwined with public interest. Judicial adjudication must balance the interests of all parties to let industries "breathe" and protect the public's rights.' In one case he handled, the defendant developed a search engine based on large language model retrieval technology. The search results showed third-party cloud storage links to a film for which the plaintiff held the right of network dissemination, leading to a lawsuit. The first-instance court ruled that the search results were not manually arranged and that an overly high duty of care should not be imposed on a public-interest search engine, as it might force a lowering of technical standards and affect public access to information. The second-instance court upheld the verdict. This case effectively balanced the interests of the rights holder, the technology innovator, and the public, responding to the technological development demands of the AI era and preserving space for technological innovation and industrial growth. It was selected as a typical case for Shanghai's 2025 judicial IP protection.
In Fengxian District, a strategic 'prepare before action' layout is propelling the transformation of the 'Oriental Beauty Valley' industry. A decade ago, contract manufacturers for several international beauty giants set up here, allowing Fengxian to seize the opportunity to build a beauty industry from scratch. Through district-wide platform development and support, the 'Oriental Beauty Valley' now hosts 85 large-scale cosmetic manufacturers with production permits, nearly 300 cosmetic brands, and generates over 10 billion yuan in output value from products packaged and shipped globally.
As China's first fast-track collaborative protection hub serving the cosmetics sector, the Fengxian (Cosmetics) IP Fast-Track Rights Protection Center (Fengxian Center) focuses on the rapid iteration and short market cycles of cosmetic designs. It diligently handles design patent pre-examination and collaborates with the Jing'an Branch of the Shanghai IP Protection Center (Shanghai Protection Center) to share resources, covering the full range of patent needs for the beauty industry. This supports the 'R&D in Jing'an, Production in Fengxian' industrial collaboration system in both districts.
'Before the Fengxian Center was established, we knew most companies in the "Oriental Beauty Valley" were building their own brands from scratch. To truly support their growth, we integrated trademark services into our center. To date, we've handled nearly 7,000 trademark matters, received over 5,000 consultations, and saved companies about 17 million yuan in business costs,' said Wang Bin, Director of the Fengxian Center. In the past two years, the center has also set up consultation windows for customs IP recordation, trade secrets, and data product IP registration. It has introduced the 'Fengfa Oriental Beauty Valley' IP Circuit Court and a service station for the Fengxian District Law Society, continuously expanding its functions to build a comprehensive and efficient innovation ecosystem service point. 'Our goal is that whenever the beauty industry in the "Oriental Beauty Valley" takes a leap forward, it can immediately find a "shuttle" to give it a boost and send it on its way,' Wang Bin said.
Going the Extra Mile to Make the Market Feel Like Home
From deep within the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor to Jing'an and Lingang New Area, the Shanghai IP Protection Center (Shanghai Protection Center) has established six branches and is building two more. These branches focus on new materials, energy conservation and environmental protection, and AI (including integrated circuits), applying the same business standards as the main center to strengthen regional innovation capabilities.
'We are casting a wide net with branch construction to serve with targeted precision,' said Zhang Qiong, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Protection Center. 'Each branch has a better understanding of the growth of companies in its own backyard. Through this layout, we aim to enhance information exchange between regional innovators, precisely extend our services, and ensure resources are used where they are most effective. Additionally, branches can leverage some functions of co-located government offices to form a joint force for fast and collaborative protection, making grassroots work more solid and effective.'
Qingpu District, a key beneficiary of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), focuses on helping new brands and foreign companies get their first licenses and permits, accelerating their 'settling in' process. 'We must be able to quickly respond to business needs during important windows like the CIIE,' said Shen Zhou, an IP officer at the Qingpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. 'Based on market feedback, we've been exploring the best combination of services. We moved the district bureau's business license processing function and the National IP Administration's trademark application service window directly to the CIIE site, creating a "green channel" where a business license can be issued on the spot and a trademark application can be filed simultaneously. This helps new companies seamlessly start building their brands.'
Last May, the Yangpu District IP Office launched the 'IP Excel' system via its Public IP Service Center. This system allows for a 'one-stop inquiry' of patent, trademark, and copyright data. It is free for tech parks and provides crucial support for monitoring innovation trends. 'The system can intelligently identify high-value patents, which solves a long-standing problem for us in patent cultivation,' said a representative from Fudan University's National Science Park.
'Yangpu has a high density of innovation clusters, which allows us to further position our public service workstations "back-to-back" with tech parks like Changyang Valley, the Bay, DCI, and Fudan. The system now deeply connects with about 11,000 companies in these parks, gradually becoming an essential IP infrastructure embedded in the park's innovation ecosystem,' an official from the Yangpu IP Office said. 'We strive to promote the latest IP policies with zero distance, sincerely solve problems and pave the way for companies, and provide comprehensive empowerment, turning our location advantages into practical results and making it easy for companies to get things done.'
How far must one travel to reach the 'last mile'? How deeply must one engage to truly understand the front lines of the market? In Shanghai, grassroots IP officers are making every mile count with tangible effort and perseverance. They are increasingly entering the hearts of companies and integrating into the fabric of industries, becoming the 'best partners' in building a world-class business environment.