Shanghai strives for famous trademarks

Shanghai should create more nationally famous trademarks to match its economic position in the country, according to the mid-term appraisal of the city's intellectual property development strategy.

The city currently owns 104 nationally famous trademarks - placing Shanghai third after Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

But in last year's list of the top 500 valuable trademarks published by the China Brand Research Institute, Shanghai had 30 trademarks listed, putting the city in seventh place. The average value of the listed trademarks had Shanghai ranked 10th. "The number shows a big gap from the city's booming economic development," said Li Jianmin, director of the Shanghai Institute for Science of Sciences.

The strategy, being implemented between 2004 and 2010, aims to greatly improve the nationally famous trademark number and Shanghai's market influence.

By 2007, there were 175 patents of invention for every 1 million people in Shanghai, a rise of 40 percent on 2004. The number has already exceeded the goal of 150 set in the strategy for 2010.

The export volume of the local software industry had increased by 149 percent to US$1.19 billion last year.