June 3 marked the 30th anniversary of China's membership in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Since that day three decades ago, when China became the 90th member of WIPO, the country's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has grown into the world's fifth-most prolific source of international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patents.

Last year 7,946 PCT patents from China were filed, during a year when the number of PCT applications declined worldwide for the first time due to global economic turmoil.

While its international intellectual property registrations have increased, applications and granted patents in China itself have soared.

By April this year, nearly 6.1 million patent applications had been filed since the nation resumed issuing patents in 1985, about 2 million of which were applications to protect inventions. About 3.37 million patents have been granted.

By the end of 2009, 7.22 million trademark applications had been filed, with 4.27 million registered, as trademark applications soared to 830,000. All three figures rank first in the world.

The trademark office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has received applications for 142,800 territorial extensions filed under the Madrid International Registration of Marks. Annual extension applications have topped the worldwide list for five consecutive years. Chinese companies or individuals filed 9,721 applications last year.

China has now signed all WIPO copyright treaties as the nation's legal system continues to modernize and copyright-related industries grow stronger.

Registration of computer software in particular has skyrocketed. In 2009, the total number of software registrations reached 70,965, a 50 percent increase over the previous year. Software sales rocketed from 480 billion yuan in 2006 to 900 billion yuan last year.

Since 1980 China has joined the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Madrid Agreement for International Registration of Trademarks and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Accession to WIPO has helped healthy and rapid development of intellectual property work in China and is another aspect of the nation's crucial role in the world economy, said industry insiders.

(Source: China Daily)