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Abstract

Since 2009, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) has announced the Top Ten Intellectual Property Cases (TTIPCs) of the previous year in China every April on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day. The annual TTIPCs reveal the ten cases that the SPC considers most worth emphasising among the huge number of intellectual property cases heard across China each year. Moreover, by incorporating a ‘Typical Significance’ section of each case into the announcement, the SPC explicitly points out the aspects of the cases that require particular attention for different audiences, including courts at all levels and other interested parties. For this reason, the annual TTIPCs announcement is a clear, regular and valuable signal for the yearly observation of the SPC and the intellectual property undertakings in China. Following the recently released official announcement of the 2020 TTIPCs, this Comment interprets the ten cases in terms of characteristics, significance, functions and interactions with the social context. The author aims to spark further analysis of the ten cases without prejudice to their textual value.