On April 2, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) released six typical cases demonstrating how procuratorial organs support the development of new quality productive forces. The move was part of the SPP's overall effort to extensively implement the tasks listed in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for national economic and social development regarding accelerating progress toward high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology and advancing the development of new quality productive forces and in the Outline for Building a Strong Intellectual Property Country (2021-35).
The cases span key core technology fields including chip manufacturing, 3D intelligent mapping software and biological research reagents. Some involve critical "bottleneck" technologies that hinder the country's technological development, underscoring the steadfast commitment and professional competence of procuratorial organs in providing legal protection for scientific and technological innovation.
Among the cases, three concern trade secret infringements. One concerns the crime of stealing, spying on, purchasing, or illegally providing trade secrets to foreign entities, while another relates to copyright infringement and one involves the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks.
Overall, the cases fully demonstrate the effectiveness of procuratorates in performing their duties regarding intellectual property (IP) prosecution. They represent procuratorates' active response to high-tech enterprises' needs for judicial protection of IP, and serve as legal education materials that help raise public awareness and foster a social climate that respects knowledge and encourages innovation.
According to the head of the SPP's Procuratorial Department of Intellectual Property, the released cases exemplify the role of procuratorial organs in supporting the development of new quality productive forces in light of local conditions.
By fully performing their duties, from reviewing arrests and prosecutions and carrying out supplementary investigations to issuing procuratorial recommendations, procuratorates worked to ensure high-quality and efficient handling of each case.
In particular, one case handled by the Hangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate in East China's Zhejiang province involved commercial espionage. In that case, the procuratorate clarified the boundary between legitimate consulting services and the crime of trade secret infringement, leading to the prosecution of a suspect for illegally providing trade secrets to overseas parties.
The official added that the released cases may serve as valuable references for the handling of similar cases, particularly in determining the nature of trade secret infringement, protecting software through technical measures and engaging technical investigators.
Moving forward, the SPP will continue to focus on original innovation and cutting-edge technologies in high-tech fields, enhance specialized case-handling mechanisms, and strengthen comprehensive duty performance in IP protection, to better support the development of new quality productive forces in line with local conditions through the high-quality fulfillment of its duties, the official said.
