According to the latest figures, SIPO received 828,328 patent applications in 2008 - an increase of 19.4% on 2007. 

Of these, 289,838 were design patents and 225,586 were utility model patents. Both these kinds of patent applications are not substantively examined and last for 10 years. There were 289,838 applications for 20-year invention patents, which is 35% of the total. 

When broken down by origin, 717,144 were domestic applications while 111,184 came from overseas. 

For the first time, more of the domestic invention patent applications came from enterprises, research institutions and other organisations, as opposed to individual inventors. Domestic media have hailed this as a breakthrough for R&D in China. 

(Source: Managing Intellectual Property)