While the U.S. and China are locked in a trade dispute over Beijing's treatment of foreign firms, many foreign companies say there's one area with some positive change: intellectual property.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China said Tuesday that 59 percent of its members believe Beijing has improved its enforcement of intellectual property protection in the last five years. The survey of 314 member company representatives between Nov. 13 and Dec. 16 also found more members said enforcement in trademark and brand protection improved between 2016 and 2018.

"I think the statistics that we showed indicate that there's a feeling there's been a modest improvement in enforcement in the judicial system (on intellectual property rights)," Timothy Stratford, chairman of AmCham China, said during a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

While Beijing has generally acted far more slowly than foreign businesses would like, the improvement in sentiment and latest developments do indicate progress in the right direction. Late December last year, Beijing announced that China's Supreme Court would begin hearing appeals on intellectual property rights cases from January. In the past, those cases were only handled by provincial-level high courts.