On the afternoon of August 17, 2026, the “100 Criminal Defense Lawyers Forum” symposium, organized by the Second Criminal Law Department of King&Capital law Firm, was successfully held. The event focused on practical challenges in handling intellectual property criminal cases, such as the significant overlap between criminal and civil law, complex technical facts, and frequent disputes over the application of the law. Three senior attorneys from King&Capital law Firm—Pan Nanyu, Hu Rui, and Wang Zhiqiang—shared insights based on their practical experience and typical case studies, while attorney Zhang Di served as the moderator.
Attorney Pan Nanyu provided a practical analysis of criminal cases involving the infringement of trade secrets. Citing judicial statistics, he noted that trade secret cases present high technical barriers, and investigative authorities generally lack specialized experience in handling such cases, leaving significant room for defense. For a trade secret to be established, three essential elements must be simultaneously satisfied: secrecy, value, and reasonable confidentiality measures. The defense need only refute one of these elements to invalidate the determination of a trade secret. During case handling, it is essential to focus on scrutinizing two core expert appraisals—non-public knowledge and identity—and to identify opportunities for cross-examination by addressing common issues such as incomplete search scopes in expert reports and the absence of technical experts. Drawing on his personal experience handling multiple cases, he summarized three practical defense strategies: effectively utilizing jurisdictional objections to compel investigative authorities to reexamine the basis for case filing and the evidence in its entirety; actively requesting that expert witnesses appear in court to expose various flaws in the expert evaluation process through direct examination; and proactively commissioning third-party expert evaluation agencies with proper accreditation, while also engaging technical expert assistants to address technical shortcomings in the defense, thereby combining legal arguments with technical expertise.
Attorney Hu Rui focused on new criminal copyright issues arising from generative AI. Drawing on two landmark judgments that have taken effect—one involving AI-generated image infringement and the other concerning the piracy of AI-generated short dramas—he categorized criminal risks in the AI field into three stages: data training, content generation, and commercial dissemination. Cases primarily fall into two categories: one involves using AI as a tool to generate substantially similar content that infringes upon another’s original work, while the other involves pirating AI-generated content that possesses originality in its own right. Regarding the former, the “access plus substantial similarity” standard must be strictly adhered to; it is essential to distinguish whether AI-based derivative works constitute reproduction or entirely new creations, with a focus on examining whether the perpetrator’s subjective knowledge meets the standard of proof required for criminal liability. Regarding the latter, it is necessary to examine whether AI-generated content demonstrates human intellectual input and originality, distinguishing between ideas and styles and the protected content of expression, while thoroughly reviewing the stability of ownership. In addition, he explored cutting-edge issues such as the fair use of AI training data, the criminal liability of platforms, and the decriminalization function of administrative regulations, proposing that handling such cases requires achieving “triple penetration”: penetrating the surface of technology to grasp the essence of the conduct, penetrating vast amounts of electronic data to uncover flaws in the evidence, and penetrating legal provisions to identify opportunities for defense.
Attorney Wang Zhiqiang shared defense strategies for trademark-related crimes, which account for 70 to 80 percent of intellectual property criminal cases. He argued that the core function of a trademark is identification and differentiation, and that criminal prosecution is strictly limited to the “same type of goods + identical trademark” scenario; issues involving similar trademarks or similar goods should be addressed through civil proceedings. Starting from fundamental legal principles, he clarified foundational issues such as reverse counterfeiting, the protection of well-known trademarks, the boundaries of authorization and licensing, and differences in standards of proof between criminal and civil cases. He then combined these principles with practical experience to address key issues, including the determination of identity between goods and trademarks, the boundaries of “use” of a trademark under criminal law, defenses against the presumption of subjective knowledge, the identification and calculation of the involved amounts, the counting of trademark markings, handling of multiple counts, seeking recognition of corporate criminal liability, expert appraisal and cross-examination of electronic data, and review of evidence transferred from administrative proceedings. Drawing on actual case examples, he provided practical defense strategies, emphasizing the need to uphold the principle of legality in criminal law and clearly distinguish between civil infringement and criminal offenses.
At the conclusion of the event, host Zhang Di summarized the entire session. This seminar covered three major areas—trade secrets, AI copyright, and trademark crimes—and, drawing on case law and practical experience, outlined actionable defense strategies. King&Capital’s “100 Criminal Defense Lawyers Forum” will continue to release practical seminar content in the future. The event concluded successfully amid enthusiastic applause.
“100 Voices on Criminal Defense” is a column dedicated to the exchange of practical criminal defense knowledge, meticulously crafted by the Second Criminal Law Department of King&Capital law Firm. It focuses on cutting-edge developments and core issues in China’s criminal defense field. Structured around criminal defense practice, the column features multidimensional dialogues among senior attorneys, experts, scholars, and judicial practitioners to deeply analyze key topics such as legal controversies in high-profile cases, strategies for handling complex cases, defense techniques for emerging crimes, and criminal risk prevention and control. The content covers specialized areas such as the intersection of substantive and procedural law, practical experience in evidence presentation and rebuttal, and strategies for substantive trials. It not only showcases the intellectual exchange inherent in the art of criminal defense but also distills proven practical wisdom.
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