100 elites

The State Intellectual Property Office recently announced its plan to select the second group of top 100 elites with specific emphasis on its linkage with propelling the Outline of the National IP Strategy. Most of the 100 will be chosen from IP administrations and other agencies' IPR units, research institutes, companies, non-profit organizations and universities. Local IP administrations are responsible for recommendation of the talents.

74% for invention

Shanghai's 56 key cutting-edge science and technology projects have so far filed 1,291 patent applications, 74 percent of which were for invention, obtaining 359 patents. In addition, the projects also registered 160 copyrights and 102 trademarks.

1,230 arbitration cases

The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission received 1,230 cases for arbitration in 2008, involving a total value of nearly 21 billion yuan. Of these, the commission concluded 1,097 cases with parties involved from 45 countries and regions.

11,898 applications

Shaanxi Filed 11,898 patent applications in 2008, 3,775 of which were for inventions, 3,961 for utility models and 4,162 for design. Patent applications from industrial and mining companies exceeded 4,000 while universities filed 2,406 and research institutes enjoyed 47.2 percent growth.

277,000-yuan rewards

Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, disbursed 277,000-yuan rewards to 44 patents for their contribution to the local economy and society. This was the first group of rewards since the city enacted rules for them in March 2007.

12% increase

Decision makers of Southwest China's Sichuan province set this year's task for the province's intellectual property rights last month. Provincial government officials envision the challenges of the global economic slowdown and set the task of ensuring at least a 12 percent increase in patent applications, 15 percent increase for invention, and the transferring of at least 2,200 patents into commercial projects.

153,400 books

In 2008, Beijing published 153,400 types of books, up 22.4 percent year-on-year; 948 million copies of journals, up 3.4 percent, and 7.7 billion copes of newspapers, up 5 percent.

(China Daily 03/16/2009 page11)