Beijing’s top judicial authority has released a targeted legal guideline mandating local courts to expand specialized legal and intellectual property protection for high-growth cutting-edge sectors, including artificial intelligence and biomedicine, as part of broader efforts to fuel the development of new quality productive forces.
Issued by the Beijing High People’s Court on Wednesday, the directive requires capital city courts to prioritize AI, biomedicine and other key innovative industries throughout the 15th Five-Year Plan period spanning 2026 to 2030. Under the new framework, courts will fully leverage existing legal regimes covering patents, trademarks, trade secrets and software copyrights to build a robust judicial protection system tailored to the unique innovation demands of these fast-evolving sectors.
The guideline encourages judges across Beijing to conduct deep dives into unresolved legal questions emerging from these new technological fields, with a specific focus on artificial intelligence. This research is intended to speed up the formation of clear adjudication standards that align with both technological progress and industrial development needs.
To further strengthen the quality of rulings, the document calls for the accurate implementation of punitive damages in intellectual property disputes involving emerging sectors. It also emphasizes expanding the role of technical investigators and industry experts in providing specialized technical assessment and analysis during case proceedings.
Zhang Xiaojin, chief judge of the high court’s third civil division, highlighted that the new guideline marks a critical step in shoring up legal support for high-tech and cutting-edge research and development in Beijing. “This framework advances a judicial approach that integrates technical industry standards with balanced, forward-looking development,” Zhang explained. She added that the guideline also aims to deepen cross-agency cooperation with administrative regulatory bodies, improve the overall quality of intellectual property case adjudication, and support Beijing’s commitment to high-level opening-up to global innovation partners.
New data released alongside the guideline illustrates the rapid growth of intellectual property disputes tied to emerging tech in the capital. In 2025 alone, Beijing courts concluded 64,960 intellectual property cases, of which 9,963 involved digital economy issues including data property rights, artificial intelligence and internet platform operations. Cross-regional and international IP casework has also expanded steadily: last year, Beijing courts closed 7,686 intellectual property disputes involving foreign parties, as well as stakeholders from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Beijing’s existing judicial infrastructure for technical IP cases has already built a solid track record ahead of the new guideline. Since 2015, 306 certified technical investigators have participated in resolving complex technical questions across more than 4,500 intellectual property cases, laying the groundwork for the expanded specialized role outlined in the new framework.