- The State Council has issued the “15th Five-Year Plan” for IP protection and utilisation (Guofa [2026] No. 30), setting the 2026–2030 IP agenda for foreign-rights holders in China.
国务院印发《知识产权保护和运用”十五五”规划》（国发〔2026〕30号），为在华外国权利持有人确立2026—2030年知识产权议程。- A headline indicator targets the copyright industry’s value-added reaching 7.53% of GDP by 2030, with dedicated industry-promotion projects for copyright clusters and trading bases.
核心指标提出到2030年版权产业增加值占国内生产总值比重达7.53%，并设立版权产业集群与贸易基地的专项促进工程。- The plan strengthens both judicial and administrative IP protection, including punitive damages, anti-monopoly in IP, and a crackdown on bad-faith litigation.
规划强化知识产权司法与行政双重保护，包括惩罚性赔偿、知识产权领域反垄断，以及打击恶意诉讼。- It signals revision of the Copyright Law implementing regulations and improvement of the collective-management system — directly relevant to licensing and royalty models.
规划提出适时修改著作权法配套法规规章、完善著作权集体管理制度——与许可与版税模式直接相关。- Foreign investors in creative, software, publishing and education businesses should align licensing, registration and enforcement planning with the 2030 targets.
创意、软件、出版、教育等领域的外资企业应使许可、登记与维权规划与2030年目标对齐。- Practical step: register works promptly, assess collective-management exposure, and build an enforcement map against the plan’s specialised campaigns.
实操建议：及时登记作品、评估集体管理敞口，并针对规划中的专项行动建立维权地图。
China’s 15th Five-Year IP Plan and What It Means for Copyright and Foreign Rights Holders | 知识产权”十五五”规划及其对著作权与外国权利持有人的意义
On 27 July 2026 the State Council issued the *15th Five-Year Plan for Intellectual Property Protection and Utilisation* (Guofa [2026] No. 30), publicly released on 31 July. Building on the 14th Five-Year outcomes, the plan sets the direction of China’s IP system through 2030, with implications for every foreign business that creates, licenses or distributes copyrighted content, software, brands or technology in China.
The 2030 trajectory
The plan states that by 2030 China’s overall IP strength and international competitiveness will be further enhanced, protection will be more robust, market value more evident, public services more efficient, and comprehensive management more effective, with decisive progress toward an IP power. A notable, quantifiable target appears in the copyright space: the copyright industry’s value-added is expected to reach 7.53% of GDP by 2030.
Special Column 7 — the “copyright industry promotion project” — calls for strengthening national copyright trading centres (trade bases) and national copyright innovation-development bases, building quality copyright industry clusters, researching and formulating normative documents on copyright-industry surveys, supporting industry-specific or region-specific copyright economic-contribution studies, promoting copyright-finance service innovation, supporting copyright fairs and exhibitions, exploring a national works-registration review guideline to raise registration efficiency, and standardising and strengthening supervision of copyright collective-management organisations.
Stronger protection on two tracks
The plan deepens both judicial and administrative protection:
- Judicial. It continues to improve the IP infringement punitive-damages system, punishes serious IP-infringement conduct according to law, prevents and combats false and malicious IP litigation and abuse of rights, explores judicial-confirmation of administrative mediation agreements on IP disputes upon party application, strengthens anti-monopoly and anti-unfair-competition adjudication in the IP field, and applies same-liability, same-crime, same-punishment to infringement against any ownership form.
- Administrative. It sustains special campaigns against IP infringement and counterfeit goods focused on key products, fields, markets and links, strengthens anti-monopoly enforcement against abuse of IP rights to exclude or restrict competition, and advances the national trade-secret protection innovation pilot.
Legislative and systemic signals
The plan explicitly calls for improving the IP legal system: promoting comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law and its implementing rules, exploring broader trademark protection scope, timely revising Copyright Law implementing regulations and improving the copyright collective-management system, revising integrated-circuit layout-design rules, accelerating revised plant-variety protection rules, and improving the anti-monopoly system in IP. It also directs faster revision of the Customs IP Protection Regulations — relevant to brands moving goods across borders.
Why this matters for foreign investors
Foreign companies frequently cite enforcement predictability, collective-management transparency and clear registration as prerequisites for bringing content, software and brands to China. The plan’s emphasis on (i) a national works-registration review guideline, (ii) standardised collective-management supervision, and (iii) punitive damages plus anti-monopoly balance, addresses exactly those friction points. For education, publishing, gaming, design and software businesses, the copyright-industry promotion projects create concrete incentives to localise and expand.
Practical steps
- Register early. Use the upcoming national works-registration guideline to register Chinese-market works efficiently; do not rely on foreign registrations alone.
- Map collective management. If your model depends on public-performance or reproduction licensing, assess how collective-management reform affects royalty flows and audit rights.
- Build an enforcement plan. Align with the specialised campaigns; prepare evidence packages for administrative raids and civil punitive-damages claims.
- Watch the legislative pipeline. Track the Copyright Law implementing-rule revision and the Customs IP regulation revision for changes to border measures.
- Use IP finance. Explore copyright-backed financing and trading-base services flagged by the plan for creative-economy investment.
知识产权”十五五”规划及其对著作权与外国权利持有人的意义
2026年7月27日，国务院印发《知识产权保护和运用”十五五”规划》（国发〔2026〕30号），7月31日公开发布。在”十四五”成果基础上，规划确立了到2030年中国知识产权制度的走向，对每一家在华创作、许可或发行受版权保护内容、软件、品牌或技术的外国企业都有影响。
2030年路径
规划提出，到2030年我国知识产权综合实力和国际竞争力进一步增强，保护更加有力，市场价值更加彰显，公共服务更加优质，综合管理更加高效，知识产权强国建设取得决定性进展。版权领域出现一项可量化的核心指标：到2030年版权产业增加值占国内生产总值比重达7.53%。
专栏7″版权促进产业发展工程”提出：加强国家版权交易中心（贸易基地）和国家版权创新发展基地建设，打造优质版权产业集群；研究制定版权产业调研有关规范性文件，支持开展特定地区或特定行业的版权产业经济贡献调研；促进版权金融服务创新；支持举办版权展会；探索制定全国作品登记审查指引，提升版权登记工作效能；规范著作权集体管理组织运营，强化对著作权集体管理组织的支持和监管。
双轨强化保护
规划从司法与行政两端深化保护：
- 司法。 持续完善侵权惩罚性赔偿制度，依法惩处严重侵害知识产权行为，防范打击虚假与恶意诉讼及滥用权利，探索依当事人申请对知识产权纠纷行政调解协议进行司法确认，加强知识产权领域反垄断与反不正当竞争审判，对侵犯各种所有制经济知识产权的行为实行同责同罪同罚。
- 行政。 聚焦重点产品、重点领域、重点市场和重点环节持续开展打击侵权假冒专项行动，加强反垄断执法、依法查处滥用知识产权排除限制竞争行为，深入推进全国商业秘密保护创新试点。
立法与制度信号
规划明确要求完善知识产权法律制度：推动商标法及其实施条例全面修改、探索扩大商标保护范围、适时推动著作权法配套法规规章修改、完善著作权集体管理制度、修订集成电路布图设计法规规章、加快修订植物新品种保护条例实施细则、健全知识产权领域反垄断制度，并加快修订知识产权海关保护条例——与跨境货物流转的品牌保护相关。
对外资的意义
外国企业常将执法的可预见性、集体管理的透明度与清晰的登记，列为将内容、软件与品牌带入中国的先决条件。规划强调（一）全国作品登记审查指引、（二）规范集体管理监管、（三）惩罚性赔偿与反垄断平衡，恰恰针对这些摩擦点。对教育、出版、游戏、设计与软件企业而言，版权产业促进工程创造了本地化与扩张的具体激励。
实操步骤
- 尽早登记。 利用即将出台的全国作品登记审查指引高效登记中国市场作品，勿仅依赖境外登记。
- 梳理集体管理。 若商业模式依赖表演或复制许可，评估集体管理改革对版税流向与审计权的影响。
- 建立维权计划。 与专项行动对齐，为行政查处与民事惩罚性赔偿索赔备妥证据包。
- 关注立法进程。 跟踪著作权法配套法规修订与知识产权海关保护条例修订对边境措施的变化。
- 运用知识产权金融。 探索规划提出的版权质押融资与贸易基地服务，服务创意经济投资。
Practitioner Quick Reference
- Guofa [2026] No. 30: the 15th Five-Year IP plan, released 31 July 2026, sets the 2030 IP agenda.
国发〔2026〕30号：知识产权”十五五”规划，2026年7月31日发布，确立2030年议程。 - 7.53% GDP by 2030: the copyright-industry value-added target, backed by trading-base and cluster projects.
2030年占GDP 7.53%：版权产业增加值目标，由贸易基地与集群工程支撑。 - Copyright Law regs + collective management: both flagged for revision — watch licensing and royalty models.
著作权法配套法规与集体管理：均被列入修订——关注许可与版税模式。 - Punitive damages + anti-monopoly: stronger judicial and administrative protection on both tracks.
惩罚性赔偿加反垄断：司法与行政双轨保护均强化。
Common Pitfalls
- Treating the plan as aspirational only: the copyright-industry target and collective-management reform have concrete, funded projects behind them.
以为规划仅是愿景：版权产业目标与集体管理改革背后有具体、有资金支撑的工程。 - Ignoring collective management: foreign licensors often underestimate how collective-management rules shape royalty recovery.
忽视集体管理：外国许可人常低估集体管理规则对版税回收的塑造作用。 - Delaying registration: waiting for the national guideline wastes the window where efficient local registration de-risks enforcement.
拖延登记：等待全国指引会错失以高效本地登记降低维权风险的窗口。
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