On April 20, the General Office of Anhui Intellectual Property Joint Committee released the White Paper on the Status of IP Development and Protection in Anhui Province in 2019 (hereafter referred to as the "White Paper"). According to the White Paper, in 2019, Anhui Province ranked seventh in the country for IP index, with 11.8 invention patents per 10,000 heads.

The White Paper includes six parts: 1) the building of a province strong on IP industry, 2) IP creation, 3) IP protection, 4) IP applications, 5) IP services, and 6) the foundation of IP development. It comprehensively introduces the Anhui’s progress and achievements in 2019 in scientific and technological innovation, targeted poverty alleviation, business environment optimization, and promotion of high-quality IP development.

In terms of building a province strong on IP, Anhui has completed the reform of IP management institutions, formulated the 2019 Work Plan for the Strategy of Building Anhui Strong on Intellectual Property, and formed a "three-in-one" reform plan combining civil, administrative and criminal trials of IP that conforms to Anhui’s conditions. Anhui has also further standardized the front-line enforcement procedures for customs protection of IP rights, and carried out pilot testing of the technical support system for IP disputes verification. 43 industry standards led by enterprises in Anhui were approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In terms of IP creation, Anhui has implemented the IP quality improvement project, having 167,039 patent applications in 2019, including 62,905 patents for invention. A total of 82,524 patents received authorization, including 14,985 patents for invention. Up till the end of 2019, the cumulative number of valid patents in the province is 74,812, with the number of patents per 10,000 heads reaching 11.8. There were 234,339 newly applied trademarks and 186,040 newly registered ones, raising the number of valid registered trademarks to 608,523. There were 23 newly applied geographical indication trademarks, lifting the total number up to 167.

In terms of IP protection, Anhui has carried out the "Iron Fist" administrative enforcement action to crack down on IP infringement. The province's market regulation system has investigated 6,437 intellectual property cases, and the public security organs have established 499 cases of counterfeit crime involving more than 480 million yuan. The business environment for intellectual property has been effectively optimized.

In terms of IP applications, Anhui has handled 910 patent pledge loans with a total pledge amount of 9.224 billion yuan, and 276 trademark pledge loans with a pledge amount of 3.079 billion yuan. Anhui has seen 25 "National Intellectual Property Model Enterprises" and 162 "National Intellectual Property Advanced Enterprises" newly identified by CNIPA, accumulating 71 and 357 respectively. Moreover, 24 projects from Anhui Province won the 21st China Patent Award.

In terms of IP services, Anhui has 146 patent agencies, 67 corporate patent agencies, 79 patent agency branches outside the province, 341 licensed patent attorneys and 828 trademark agencies (law firms included).

In terms of the basis for IP development, in 2019, Examination Center in Hefei for the National Patent Agent Qualification Examination registered more than 2,000 people for the first time. By the end of 2019, there had been 810 patent engineers, 341 licensed patent attorneys and more than 6,500 IP commissioners of enterprises in Anhui, stationed in almost 6,000 sciences and technology enterprises and hundreds of scientific research institutes. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)