61 percent

Major Chinese automaker First Automobile Works (FAW) Group will increase research and development (R&D) spending by 61 percent this year despite the financial crisis, Xu Jianyi, group president, said recently. R&D spending would total 4.23 billion yuan, he said, as FAW used the crisis "as an opportunity for structural adjustment and innovation."

8 shops shut down

Eight more shops in Beijing's famous Silk Street Market (SSM) have been ordered to close for seven days after they were found selling fake goods last month. This is the third time the management of the market, which is well known as a place to buy cheap designer knock-offs, has resorted to this punishment, according to SSM General Manager Wang Zili.

14 challenges

The number of patent cases against Google worldwide rose to 14 last year, from 11 in 2007 and three in 2006. The company wants to curb that growth by fighting rather than settling lawsuits, said Catherine Lacavera, Google's senior litigation counsel.

20 patent applications

Beijing set aside nearly 6 per cent of its gross domestic product for research and development investment last year. The municipality has reached its target for intellectual property rights for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) in advance by achieving 20 patent applications for every 10,000 residents.

11b yuan in sales

China's network gaming industry generated more than 11 billion yuan in sales of its products based on domestic independent research and development in 2008, up 60 per cent from the previous year, according to the latest government report on China's network gaming industry.

1,757 cases

Courts in Shanghai municipality heard 1,757 civil intellectual property (IP) cases last year, up 43.1 percent from 2007. Of these, the courts concluded 1,634 cases, up 33.2 per cent year-on-year. Cases involving Internet-related IP accounted for 40 per cent of the total, while overseas-related IP cases made up 15.2 per cent.

300 million yuan

As of Dec 31, 2008, Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, saw at least 300 million yuan of its industrial output attributed to the commercialization of local newly patented IPs.

(China Daily 03/02/2009 page11)