China has received over 13,000 patent applications from US patentees in the first half of this year, a large increase compared with the same period in 2005, said the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

"Patent applications from the United States have been increasing by over 20 per cent for three consecutive years, and now account for over 20 per cent of the total applications made by foreign patentees," said Mao Jinsheng, deputy director of the SIPO's development planning department.

US company IBM is among the top 10 foreign firms in terms of patent applications, he said.

Most of the patents are for inventions, according to the SIPO.

SIPO statistics showed that 18,000 applications were submitted from the United States for patents in China last year, 23.6 per cent more than 2004.

The nation ranked second among all foreign countries in terms of applications, behind Japan.

But Mao pointed out that, in terms of applications, firms from Japan and South Korea have been more active than their US counterparts.

And among the top 10 foreign firms in terms of patents in China, there is only one from the United States, but five are from Japan and three from South Korea.

"In order to relieve the pressure from the quick growth in patent applications, the SIPO has been working hard in the patent-examination process," said Mao.

"Last year, China was listed among the top 10 countries for patent applications for the first time."

The fast growth in patent applications can be attributed to the nation's policy of encouraging innovation, said SIPO official Sun Pingping.

Over the past few years, the Chinese Government has made IPR protection a top priority. The nation has set up a national system for IPR protection with the establishment of 50 IPR service centres in 31 provincial areas and some booming cities with many foreign-funded enterprises.

The centres are responsible for receiving and handling complaints about IPR infringements and offering consulting services, with the latest opening in Yiwu, a coastal city in East China's Zhejiang Province.

In the first half of this year, the nation prosecuted 1,076 cases of IPR infringement, said China's General Administration of Customs.

The State Office of Intellectual Property Protection of the Ministry of Commerce and several other departments this year issued China's Action Plan on IPR Protection 2006, the first comprehensive annual action plan formulated by the government.