BEIJING, Jul 17 (APP): China’s strengthening intellectual property (IP) protection is boosting the confidence of multinational companies and drawing fresh investment, an AstraZeneca legal director said on Thursday.
Speaking at a forum during the ongoing third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), the pharma giant’s Wang Rongxia said the country’s “increasingly favourable environment for innovation” directly led to new company commitments, CEN reported.
Following a successful patent defense case upheld by China’s IP authority, AstraZeneca invested nearly 9 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) to establish two global R&D centres in Beijing and Shanghai, said Wang. The British-Swedish drugmaker invested a further $2.5 billion in its innovation-focused business in Beijing in early 2025, she added.
In an April interview with Above the Law, Matthew Allan Newman, CEO of U.S.-based Newman Infinity termed the Chinese IP system as “reliable” and “predictable” after the company’s partial victory in an intellectual property case against Microsoft at a Chinese IP court. The country could be “a jurisdiction of first resort to commence any IP enforcement actions,” he revealed.
In recent years, Beijing has revised its Patent Law to introduce high punitive damages and is refining other key IP laws in consultation with foreign enterprises in China, Hu Wenhui, deputy director of China’s top IP regulator CNIPA, revealed in a press conference on Thursday.
Hu said China has established 128 national-level IP protection centers to provide rapid rights protection, where over 8,000 foreign and joint ventures receive professional services and preferential policies comparable to those for domestic firms.
Wang, the AstraZeneca legal director, concluded that she was optimistic China’s IP system could evolve to play a “leading role” in shaping future global innovation policies.