According to the information from the State Intellectual Property Office of China (i.e. SIPO), SIPO received totally 928,000 invention patent applications in 2014, up 12.5%, among which 801,000 were domestic - 86.3% of the total, and 127,000 were from abroad – 13.7% of the total. At the same time, 233,000 invention patents were granted, up 12.3%, of which 30% were filed by foreigners. The data shows two significant changes:
1) Increase of invention patent applications becomes stable. The 12.5% rate of increase got lower as compared with an average of 20% in the last several years.
2) The number of invention patent applications becomes the first among the three kinds of patent applications including patent applications for invention, utility model and design, accounting for 39.3% of the total patent applications.
As the leading country of invention patent applications in the world, invention patent applications in China continue growing fast. Meanwhile, it becomes more and more important for patent owners to maintain the quality of patent applications and patent portfolios in a more effective way.
Originally published in August 2015The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.