China invention patent applications jump 26 percent

China’s patent office received 825,000 applications for invention patents last year, the agency has revealed.

That represents a 26 percent rise on the previous year’s figure of 652,777.

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received around 2.4 million applications in total, with utility model and design patents making up the remainder. It is the first time the share of invention patents has exceeded one third of the total.

There are three types of patent in China: invention, utility model and design. Invention patents last for 20 years, but the other two expire after 10.

SIPO officials announced the news at a press conference in Beijing.

Of the 825,000 applied-for invention patents, 208,000 were granted last year, a decrease of 4.6 percent from 2012.

Nearly 70 percent of those patents were granted to domestic applicants, with companies from Beijing accounting for the largest share, followed by Guangdong. Telecoms company Huawei received the most (2,251), while China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (1,627), an oil and gas firm, and telecoms business ZTE (1,448) took the next spots.

The total stock of granted invention patents held by Chinese residents now corresponds to 4.02 per 10,000 people. This figure exceeds the target in the 12th Five Year Plan to achieve 3.3 patents per 10,000 people by 2015.

Additionally, SIPO handled 22,924 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications last year, which was a 15 percent increase from 2012.

In December 2013, a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization showed that a rapid increase in Chinese IP filings is driving global IP growth. The report revealed that in 2012 Chinese residents filed the most patents (560,681) worldwide, while SIPO handled 652,777 applications, making it the largest office for the second year running. The total number of patents filed worldwide was around 2.35 million, which represents a 9.2 increase on 2011.