China makes steady progress in comprehensive development of intellectual property

By Gu Yekai, People’s Daily

China made steady progress in comprehensive development of intellectual property (IP) in the first half of this year, with major indicators in line with expectations, according to China’s National Intellectual Property Administration.

Statistics indicate that a total of 649,000 applications of invention patents were filed in the first six months of this year, and 238,000 were authorized. 192,000 of the authorized were domestic invention patents.

As of the end of June, the domestic invention patents in Chinese mainland amounted to 1.74 million. The number of invention patents per 10,000 people stood at 12.5, up from 11.5 at the end of 2018, which has hit the target set in the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule.

In the same period, China received 3.44 million applications of trademark registration, and completed 3.52 million trademark registration reviews.

By the end of last month, the number of the country's valid trademarks has exceeded 22.74 million, with every 5.2 market entities owning one on average.

According to the authority, the number of foreign invention patent applications in China reached 78,000 in the first half of the year, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, and the number of foreign trademark applications in China reached 127,000, increasing 15.4 percent from a year ago. It indicated the confidence of the international community in China’s IP protection