CNIPA Expert Commentary on the 15th Five-Year Plan: Algorithm, AI-Generated Content, Data and Open-Source Rules Set as Enterprise IP Priorities
On 23 September the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) published, in its column on the 15th Five-Year Plan for Intellectual Property Protection and Utilisation, an expert commentary by Huang Can, professor at Zhejiang University's School of Management and director of the Zhejiang data intellectual property research base, titled Modernising Enterprise Intellectual Property Management Systems, which puts rule tracking in emerging fields and full-process compliance review at the centre of enterprise IP management. Citing the plan's language on improving protection rules for algorithms, artificial intelligence generated content and platform-economy intellectual property, exploring rules for data intellectual property and strengthening research on open-source licensing rules, the article says enterprises should keep tracking these rules and update internal procedures in time, and should also watch the plan's commitment to studying and taking part in international rule and standard setting for artificial intelligence, big data and green low-carbon technologies.
On compliance it recommends intellectual property review at the stages of technology procurement, joint development, software and data use, brand promotion and product launch to avoid infringing others' rights.
The commentary is organised around five areas: improving the management system (strategy and organisation), full-process management capability (project initiation, process management, protection of results), commercialisation (portfolio audits, licensing and assignment, financial tools), whole-chain protection (prevention, monitoring, remedies) and international competitiveness (overseas filing, risk early warning, standards participation), and it suggests internal classification of IP assets, clear ownership and benefit-sharing rules and an overseas risk monitoring mechanism.
The plan was issued by the State Council as Guo Fa [2026] No. 30 on 27 July as the overall arrangement for intellectual property work from 2026 to 2030; the commentary is not a new normative document, but it reflects the authority's official framing of how enterprises are expected to manage intellectual property.
For enterprises the value of the commentary is that it turns the plan's abstract wording into management actions: ownership, licensing and compliance rules for algorithms, AI-generated content, data and open-source licences will be written down step by step over the plan period, the authority has already set out the tracking list and the review points, and the earlier internal procedures are aligned, the lower the adjustment cost when the rules land.
J&C recommends that companies operating in China run a gap check against this list: bring algorithms, AI-generated content, data and open-source licences into the IP register and settle ownership; add clauses on training-data provenance, open-source component licences and ownership of results to technology procurement and joint development contracts; add an infringement and compliance review before product launch and brand campaigns; and, for overseas business, track international AI and data rules in parallel so that domestic compliance keeps pace.
Source: www.cnipa.gov.cn | www.cnipa.gov.cn
