Abstract:Based on the 21 province-level panel data of Chinese anime enterprise over the period 2010-2014, the paper estimates the innovation efficiency of animation enterprise using the stochastic frontier analysis method, and applies technical inefficiency equation to analysis the intellectual property protection’s effect on innovation efficiency, and analyzes the impact channels for intellectual property protection to influence innovation efficiency. Research result shows that intellectual property protection can promote the innovation efficiency. Research also reveals that intellectual property protection is mainly through four channels to exert the influence including copyright importation, copyright trading, absorption ability and technology gap, and plays different roles in different channels. Strengthening intellectual property protection can enhance copyright importation, copyright trading and absorption ability, and further improve innovation efficiency. However, Intellectual property protection still strengthens the technological gap’s negative effect on the innovation efficiency.