The coastal province received 4,088 patent applications in the first quarter, up 25.44 percent compared with the same period last year.

Applications for utility model patents reached 1,981, an increase of 44.28 percent, while invention patent applications grew 19.95 percent to 956, and 1,151design patents were filed, an increase of 5.69 percent.

Among patents granted in the first quarter, utility models numbered 1,198, a growth rate of 34.61 percent, invention patents reached 179, up 32.59 percent and design patents totaled 1,116, an increase of 25.96 percent.

(Source: China Daily)