According to the Annual Report on China's Valid Patents in 2011 recently released by SIPO, as of the end of 2011, 2,740,000 SIPO-granted patents were current, 84.1% of which were belong to domestic users, continuing its upward journey of the past few years.

The report says that valid patents in China has been growing at a high tempo in recent years with composition of sorts optimized along with way. As of the end of 2011, there were 697,000 invention patents (up 23.4%), 351,000 of which were owned by Chinese right holders, edging their foreign counterparts for the first time. The report reveals that patents held by each 10,000 citizens reached 2.4.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have been continuously building up their innovation capacity and solidifying their position as the main force of innovation. By the end of 2011, domestic enterprises held 1.23 million valid patents or 53.4%, exceeding half of the total for the first time. With regard to the domestic valid patents for invention, 52.8% were owned by enterprises, a solid year-on-year hike of 1.7%.

According to the report, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the top 5 provinces and cities in the department of valid patents while Beijing paces all localities with 26.8 patents per 10,000 heads. "Taking the advantage of patent resources and promoting knowledge-driven economy will provide a strong support for advancing a steady and smooth development, "quoting one expert.

Statistics show as of the end of 2012, U.S. and Japan host 2.114 million and 1.542 million valid inventions respectively. "Although China is fast in growth, it is still visibly behind them," says the above expert.

The report also indicates, although the momentum of domestic users is strong, there is a gap between China and other countries. While 32.8% of patents owned by foreign nations are alive for  10 plus years, only 8.2% of those with Chinese origin sees their 10th birthday.  When high tech areas become the subject,  the 4:1 ratio soon magnifies where it could be north of 1,000%.  Among the patents nulled in 2011, the shelf life of the Chinese ones was less than 7 years on average as opposed to 10 plus years of foreign ones. 

(China IP News)