Outline of China's patent development

Since the 16th National People's Congress convened in 2002, patent applications and grants in China have been growing rapidly and the important role played by enterprises in creating innovations has been more revealing. Over the past ten years, many breakthroughs were made in boosting patent development by domestic creators and innovators keenly seeking the protection of their fruits.

Soaring patent applications and grants

During the past ten years, patent development in China has gone through three major phases.

In 2003, China's domestic invention patent applications surpassed those filed by foreign entities in China for the first time, signaling an increasing patent protection awareness of local entities.

In 2009, China's domestic invention patent grants exceeded those obtained by foreign entities in China for the first time, reflecting a focus shift of patent applications from quantity to quality.

As of the end of 2011, China has held as many as 351 thousand issued domestic invention patents, outpacing the figure held by foreign entities in China for the first time.

Since 2001, China's annual average growth rate of invention patent grants has reached up to 26.8%.

In 2011, China had a total of 172,113 issued invention patents, up 27.4% on a year-on-year basis, almost 11 times more than that of 2001.

Among invention patents issued in 2001, those filed by domestic applicants accounted for less than one third, while the proportion increased to nearly two thirds in 2011, which demonstrates that domestic applicants have filed more submissions than their foreign counterparts.

In addition, China saw the proportion of service invention patents jump from 50.0% in 2000 to 84.8% in 2011.

"During the past ten years, I become busier and busier and I feel the expectation for patent review quality is much higher than ever before," said a senior reviewer who started working in the State Intellectual Property Office from 2001, adding that the public innovation enthusiasm has been greatly stimulated which helps spur the growth of domestic patent applications and grants in terms of both quantity and quality.

Obvious regional advantages in patent achievements

With prosperous economic development and the promotion of IPR strategies, some regions with prominent IPR advantages are constantly emerging.

Take Guangdong, a province located in south China's coastal area, for example. Its invention patent grants hit up to 18,242 in 2011, which is much more than the figure ten years ago. Rome was not built in a day. Early in 2006, the province had launched its 11th Five-Year Plan on patent, which specified that by 2010, patent applications per every one million local residents would get to 1,250 and invention patent applications per every ten thousand capita would amount to 200.

Guangdong has been focusing on invention patent applications and considering IPR commercialization indicators as a key criterion in performance evaluation for local government officials. With unremitting efforts, Guangdong has topped all the other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in invention patent grants since 2008.

In 2011, Shaanxi was listed as the only province located in northwest China among the top ten provinces in invention patent grants. Back to 2006, the province released Several Opinions on Strengthening IPR Protection, stipulating that the annual patent applications would reach more than 8,000 by 2010. With years of endeavors, patent applications in the province have finally broken 30,000 in 2011, and those applied for inventions have exceeded 10,000, another big progress achieved by the province after 2010.

Enterprises leading the way

The proportion of issued invention patents held by domestic enterprises, academies and research institutions increased from 40% (38,000 pieces) in 2001 to 85% (95,000 pieces) in 2011, in which those filed by enterprises grew from 1% (1,089 pieces) in 2001 to 52% (58,000 pieces) in 2011, showing that enterprises have established and consolidated their leading role in technological creations.

In 2008, Huaiwei Device Co., Ltd, a leading global ICT solutions provider, topped in patent applications under PCT worldwide, according to the announcement of WIPO. It was the first time for a Chinese enterprise to enjoy the honor.

ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, is also a veteran master in harnessing intellectual property strategies for global expansion. In 2011, the company held the most domestic invention patent applications and grants nationwide, setting an excellent example in this regard.

The promulgation of the National Outline of Intellectual Property Strategy has helped local enterprises further build their capacities in creating, utilizing, protecting and administrating intellectual property rights. Take home appliance industry for example. Currently, about 70% of the global home appliance products are made in China. Patent is bolstering up a shift of the industry from "made in China" to "created in China". In 2011 alone, invention patents granted for the industry reached over 5,000. Domestic enterprises owning core technologies in this industry are becoming more and more competent in international markets featuring fierce competition.