The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China listed "continuously stimulating the vitality of cultural innovation and creation of the whole nation, enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the people, significantly enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and the influence of Chinese culture, and continuously improving the country's soft power" as the main goals of economic and social development during the "15th Five Year Plan" period. Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is an important component of China's excellent traditional culture, the crystallization of national wisdom, the foundation of cultural genes, and the source of strong cultural confidence and prosperous cultural industries. In November 2025, the Supreme People's Court and the National Cutural Heritage Administration jointly released typical cases of promoting the protection of cultural relics according to law, and some local courts also successively released typical cases of judicial protection of intangible cultural heritage, highlighting the positive role of judicial protection of cultural heritage inheritance and development. Based on the new starting point of the 15th Five Year Plan, the people's courts should take the initiative to play their functional role, inject legal momentum into the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage, and promote excellent traditional Chinese culture. One is to deepen investigation and research, and consolidate the foundation of intangible cultural heritage protection. One word cannot be put into practice, and ten thousand scrolls are empty. Intangible cultural heritage is not only related to the application of external skills and the expression of internal emotions, but also connects industrial vitality and cultural context; We should not only uphold the traditional foundation, but also encourage individual innovation. Intangible cultural heritage is located in a complex network that intertwines collective and individual, material and spiritual, technological and cultural aspects. This requires people's courts to adhere to legal basis while responding to cultural core when handling relevant disputes, reflecting the humanistic care of the judiciary. Firstly, understand the basic knowledge of intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage is interdisciplinary, diverse in form, and complex in composition, including music and art that run through literature and art, as well as practical processing techniques. This characteristic requires judges to master the basic knowledge of the connotation, types, scope, protection principles and methods of intangible cultural heritage from a macro level. Secondly, be familiar with the purpose of protecting intangible cultural heritage. The protection of intangible cultural heritage aims to inherit and promote excellent traditional Chinese culture, enhance national cultural identity, and promote social harmony and sustainable development. In the judicial practice of handling disputes over intangible cultural heritage, it is necessary to clarify the boundary between intangible cultural heritage as a public resource and the rights obtained by individuals based on inheritance and innovation, and balance the relationship between groups and individuals, inheritance and innovation. Finally, grasp the actual situation of local intangible cultural heritage. Through cooperation with local cultural authorities, joint discussions, archive reviews, on-site visits, and other methods are adopted to comprehensively grasp the types, levels, inheritors, and related industrial development status of intangible cultural heritage within the jurisdiction, laying an information foundation for risk prevention and dispute resolution. Secondly, we should focus on forward-looking prevention and optimize the development environment of intangible cultural heritage. At present, some inheritors of intangible cultural heritage have a unclear understanding of the legal boundary between "collective traditional knowledge" and "individual innovative achievements", which can easily lead to subsequent disputes. Firstly, accurately identify the legal risks associated with intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage involves multiple industries and legal relationships, including administrative relationships between inheritors and administrative departments, civil relationships between inheritors and apprentices, intellectual property relationships based on innovation, and interest distribution relationships between intangible cultural heritage groups and external users. Only by effectively grasping these core legal relationships can targeted legal education and risk warning be carried out. Secondly, we should effectively promote the autonomy of the intangible cultural heritage industry. Establish a regular communication mechanism with representative inheritors, fully leverage their exemplary and leading role in the industry, and deeply integrate compliance awareness and risk prevention concepts into intangible cultural heritage inheritance and dissemination activities. Establish a linkage feedback mechanism between judiciary and administration, promptly send judicial suggestions to the competent authorities on issues such as industry management gaps and lack of technical standards discovered during case trials, and promote the improvement of autonomous norms for industry associations, inheritance groups, etc. Finally, summarize and release the referee rules in a timely manner. In response to the complex legal relationship of intangible cultural heritage but the lack of specialized legislation, typical cases related to intangible cultural heritage are regularly released to provide clear and concise behavioral guidelines for intangible cultural heritage practitioners, units, and organizations. Publish a white paper on trials related to intangible cultural heritage, systematically extract the rules of judgment for similar cases, and ensure the stable and far-reaching development of the intangible cultural heritage cause on the track of the rule of law. The third is to strengthen dispute resolution and nourish the ecological inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Harmony brings auspiciousness, and obedience brings difference. "Non heritage disputes have special characteristics compared to general civil and commercial disputes: practitioners of intangible cultural heritage are in a familiar society; The causes of disputes include both cultural conflicts and imbalanced distribution of interests. Appropriate handling methods should be adopted based on the characteristics of disputes involving intangible cultural heritage. Firstly, strengthen mediation and repair relationships. The active inheritance of intangible cultural heritage takes inheritors as the key subject and communities as the main cultural space. In response to cultural conflicts and imbalanced interests among inheritors or communities, mediation should be prioritized to maintain the systematic nature of the active inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, promote cooperation among all parties from opposition, and consolidate consensus on inheritance. Secondly, promote dialogue and eliminate bias. Intangible cultural heritage has distinct regional, ethnic, and collective characteristics. In response to excessive commercialization, distortion, and derogatory behavior in the use of intangible cultural heritage, we should uphold the principle of respecting multiculturalism, promote full dialogue among stakeholders through litigation procedures, enhance understanding, and create an external environment conducive to the active inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Finally, punishing malice and nurturing the ecosystem. Punitive damages can be explored for malicious distortion and defamation of intangible cultural heritage images, registering inheritors' names and intangible cultural heritage names as trademarks, or engaging in unfair competition infringement. After compensating for the losses of the infringed party, the remaining amount of compensation can be used specifically to support the cultural and ecological construction of the location of the intangible cultural heritage. Those who commit crimes shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law, achieving the organic unity of private rights relief and public welfare protection. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "we must protect, inherit, and spread these treasures of Chinese culture well." The protection and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage has become an important part of enhancing cultural confidence and improving national soft power. On the new journey of the 15th Five Year Plan, we look forward to the people's courts deepening research, strengthening prevention, properly resolving disputes, bridging ideological conflicts, optimizing benefit distribution, smoothing non genetic inheritance chains, nurturing cultural ecological networks, building a strong judicial barrier for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, endowing it with vitality and vigor for dynamic inheritance, and promoting social civilization and cultural construction. (New Press) (Author Loubi County, Institution: Chongqing Institute of Intellectual Property, Chongqing University of Technology)