Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 21, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
WTO reverses parts of a previous decision in the EU-China IP dispute, impacting global trade rules and patent compliance.
(Reuters) -World Trade Organization arbitrators on Monday reversed part of a previous panel decision that had rejected the European Union's claims that China had violated the global watchdog's rules on intellectual property.
In April, a WTO panel rejected the EU's complaint, lodged in 2022, that China had violated the global watchdog's IP rules over patents for 3G, 4G and 5G mobile technology. However, it did say that China had failed to comply with all WTO transparency obligations.
The EU appealed the case at the Multi-Party Appeal Arbitration Arrangement - a surrogate for the WTO's Appellate Body which was shuttered in 2019 after the United States repeatedly blocked judge appointments.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Writing by Friederike Heine;Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
The WTO arbitrators reversed part of a previous panel decision that had rejected the EU's claims against China for violating IP rules.
The EU's complaint involved China's violation of IP rules over patents related to 3G, 4G, and 5G mobile technology.
The Multi-Party Appeal Arbitration Arrangement is a surrogate for the WTO's Appellate Body, which has been inactive since 2019 due to the U.S. blocking judge appointments.
The EU lodged its complaint against China in 2022.
The report was authored by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva, with writing by Friederike Heine and editing by Tomasz Janowski.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
