Source: China IP News

In 2017, 44 Chinese companies had filed more than 100 PCT applications, a year-on-year increase of 18.Among the top performers, Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Company and Shenzhen DJI-Innovations Company recorded stunning rates of 142.3% and 46.9% respectively, according to a State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C (SIPO) press conference on patent statistics in 2017 on January 18.

In 2017, SIPO received 51,000 PCT applications, up 12.5%; 48,000 of which were from local users, up 12.5%  as well. Seven provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities-Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Zhejiang and Hubei-filed 1,000 and more. Their filings combined for over 90% of the nation's total.

In 2017, 5,608 patent applications filed by China in countries along the "Belt and Road" were published, up 16%. In the same year, the countries along the "Belt and Road" filed 4,319 patent applications in China, up 16.8%.Four "Belt and Road" countries patented for the first time in China, elevating the total to 41.

Expert here summarized four features presented in China's invention patent statistics. Firstly, patenting grows steadily. Applications and grants of invention patents grew by 15.4% and 8.2% respectively. The number of invention patents owned by every 10,000 people reached 9.8, up 1.8. Secondly, domestic companies further solidified their status as key innovation force. Chinese companies filed 63.3% of the all invention patent applications and obtained 66.4% of grants while contributing 73.5% to the growth of invention patents.  Thirdly, Chinese companies continued to bolster patenting globally.Fourthly, China was still an underdog in some technical fields.