In intellectual property infringement cases, some acts constitute crimes while others only amount to administrative violations. How exactly is the line drawn between the two? In Shanghai's Pudong New Area, a mechanism linking administrative and criminal enforcement that has been running for two decades is providing the answer. On September 21, 2026, a media delegation organized by the News Office and the Intellectual Property Prosecution Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate visited the Third Branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate and the Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Protection Center, gaining insight into the procuratorial practice of two-way linkage between administrative and criminal enforcement in the IP field.
The delegation toured the Third Branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate and visited the specialized case-handling base for intellectual property prosecution established by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Evolution of the Mechanism
IP cases are unique in that a single act of infringement may simultaneously trigger legal evaluation at three levels: civil tort, administrative violation, and criminal offense. The boundaries and transitions between these levels are far more complex than in other fields. Pudong is one of two pilot regions in China for the standardized construction of administrative-criminal enforcement linkage in the IP sector, with exploration of this mechanism beginning as early as 2005. At that time, the Pudong New Area Procuratorate took the lead in building the nation's first online platform for transferring case leads between administrative and judicial organs, enabling information exchange between them. Zhao Rui, Deputy Chief Procurator of the Zhangjiang Branch Procuratorate in Pudong, recalled that technological conditions were limited then, so "connections had to be established one by one" through point-to-point methods to facilitate the transfer of case leads.
Starting in 2017, this system was extended to the field of intellectual property prosecution. In April 2021, the Pudong New Area Procuratorate, the Public Security Sub-bureau, and the Intellectual Property Administration jointly signed the first Implementation Measures for Administrative-Criminal Enforcement Linkage, cementing the mechanism in written form for the first time. On August 31, 2026, the three entities jointly released an upgraded version of the implementation plan. The provisions expanded from the original 25 clauses to 37, detailing items such as "material transfer," "evidence standards," and "reverse linkage," while adding dedicated chapters on the disposal of case-related items and long-term working mechanisms. Meanwhile, the public security and procuratorial organs also signed implementation measures concerning the timely介入 of criminal IP cases in Pudong, institutionally driving the formation of a complete closed loop of seamless coordination between judicial and administrative IP protection.
"The collaboration between the Pudong Intellectual Property Administration and the procuratorial organs has a long history," noted Wang Jian, Deputy Director of the Protection Division under the Pudong IP Administration. The two sides had cooperated on exploring administrative-criminal enforcement linkage in the IP field at an early stage. During the 2021 pilot collaboration, after multiple rounds of consultations, a cooperation agreement was finally reached at the institutional level. Also in 2021, leveraging the legislative authorization granted to Shanghai by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to formulate regulations for the Pudong New Area, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress issued Several Provisions on Establishing a High-Level Intellectual Property Protection System, making key breakthroughs in areas such as the shifting of the burden of proof, geographical indication protection, and IP protection in the exhibition sector.
Practical Outcomes
At the operational level, the Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Protection Center houses a prosecutors' office, where prosecutors from the Pudong New Area Procuratorate provide on-site services every two weeks. Zhao Chang explained that the office serves two functions. First, it serves enterprises: when companies come for consultations and their issues involve criminal protection, the front-desk staff will refer them to the prosecutors' office for advice. Second, it helps uncover leads: prosecutors can review administrative enforcement case files to detect any signs of criminal activity. "It is precisely this prosecutors' office that has driven the implementation of our relevant cases and the advancement of the system," she said.
Relying on the administrative-criminal enforcement linkage mechanism, Pudong has produced numerous benchmark cases. For instance, the country's first case of a geographical indication being prosecuted as a standalone criminal offense originated from consultations held in that very prosecutors' office. In the case of Huang and Wang counterfeiting registered trademarks, the district IP administration transferred the infringement leads through forward administrative-criminal linkage, ultimately leading to criminal liability being pursued for the infringement of service trademarks in organizing counterfeit brand fashion shows. This case was the nation's first criminal case involving counterfeit service trademarks after the release of the new judicial interpretations by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and it was also rated as an "Outstanding Public Prosecution Court Session" by procuratorial organs nationwide.
The case of Ke, who sold goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks, exemplifies the practical effectiveness of the reverse linkage mechanism. In the course of foreign-related contract manufacturing, Ke sold excess inventory of bags bearing a certain registered trademark through an online store. Because the criminal circumstances were minor, the procuratorial organ lawfully made a decision not to prosecute. Before the reverse linkage transfer, communication with the district IP administration was strengthened, and focused deliberation was conducted on the transfer of evidence based on clarified administrative penalty jurisdiction, ensuring that the penalty fit the offense. This mechanism is applied not only to domestic cases but also extends to the protection of foreign-related IP rights. Wang Jian noted that Pudong has established a specialized catalog of key protected trademarks, set up a multi-department joint meeting mechanism in the Disney Resort area, and formed a working model of "shared front-end management and back-end triage."
Notably, Pudong is also one of the earliest regions in the country to offer IP rights protection services for enterprises going global, and it is among the first batch of overseas rights protection service centers recognized by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, with 12 overseas workstations established across 12 regions worldwide.
"The administrative-criminal enforcement linkage enables administrative and judicial organs to form a joint force against IP crimes and violations, fundamentally eliminating the practices of substituting fines for criminal punishment or failing to impose penalties when prosecution is waived," said Cai Jingjing, a deputy to the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and a host at the Oriental Financial Channel of Shanghai Media Group. Having attended a promotion meeting for the pilot construction of Pudong's IP administrative-criminal enforcement linkage in August of this year, she noted that the system has now been included in the candidates for Pudong legislation. "I believe that in the near future, it will be codified in the form of local legislation, creating a replicable and scalable 'Pudong experience,'" she added.
In July 2026, the Supreme People's Procuratorate established a specialized case-handling base for intellectual property prosecution at the Third Branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate, tasked with handling difficult and complex cases involving new technologies, new business formats, and new fields. Pudong's practice of administrative-criminal enforcement linkage represents the grassroots implementation of this specialized system. From the nation's first online platform for transferring case leads in 2005, to the first implementation measures for IP administrative-criminal enforcement linkage in 2021, and then to the upgraded implementation plan in 2026, Pudong's IP enforcement linkage mechanism has evolved over more than two decades. "This mechanism continues to demonstrate remarkably strong vitality to this day," Zhao Rui said.