BEIJING — China will crack down on malicious prosecutions related to intellectual property rights (IPR), a senior official from China's National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) said on April 22.

Malicious prosecutions interfere with the normal operations of the IPR system, damage public interests and waste national administrative resources, NIPA head Shen Changyu said at the 2022 High-level Forum on China IP Protection.

He stressed the need to crack down on and regulate malicious prosecutions and promote balanced IPR protection.

Balanced protection means maintaining the balance between strict IPR protection and the prevention of IPR abuse, and the balance between encouraging innovation and protecting public social interests.

He Xiaorong, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, pledged at the forum to make efforts to build a healthy, orderly and fair environment for IPR protection.