In the first half of 2007, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) handled 268,926 patent applications and granted 167,750 patents. The application and grant of patent during this period of time demonstrated four features: The number of the three kinds of patents granted increased dramatically in the first half of 2007, up 40.5 percent year on year; the application of the three kinds of patents kept rising, but the growth declined; the number of domestic patent applications grew faster than that from abroad; and all the domestic applications were service applications.

 

In the first half of 2007, SIPO processed 268,926 patent applications, a number 7.3 percent higher than the same period of last year's 250,703. The number of domestic patent applications reached 216,473, accounting for 80.5 percent of the total. This number is 7.7 percent more than the same period of last year's 201,035. A total of 52,453 patent applications were filed overseas, up 5.6 percent, accounting for 19.5 percent of the total.

 

Of the patent applications handled in the first half of this year, the number of patents for invention increased from the same period of last year's 97,620 to 104,341, up 6.9 percent. The number of utility model patent applications reached 74,733, down 1.4 percent over the same period of last year's 75,818. A total of 89,852 inventions applied for design patents, increased by 16.3 percent from the same period of last year's 77,265. The proportions of patent applications for invention, utility model and design reached 38.8 percent, 27.8 percent and 33.4 percent respectively.

 

Of the applications of patent for invention handled in the first half this year, 59,257 were filed domestically, up 8.1 percent from the same period of last year's 54,835, accounting for 56.8 percent of the total patent for invention applications. The number of overseas application hit 45,084, increased by 5.4 percent compared with the same period of last year's 42,785, accounting for 43.2 percent of the total patent for invention applications.
Among the domestic patent applications processed in the first half this year, 101,921 were service applications, up 20.0 percent over the same period of last year's 84,907, accounting for 47.1 percent of the total domestic patent applications. Non-service application reached 114,552, decreased by 1.4 percent compared with the same period of last year's 116,128, accounting for 52.9 percent of all the domestic patent applications. Of this amount, the number of service applications of patent for invention totaled 40,705, up 12.5 percent year on year, accounting for 68.7 percent of the total domestic applications of patent for invention. Non-service application of patent for invention hit 18,552, down 0.5 percent year on year, accounting for 31.3 percent of all the domestic applications of patent for invention.

 

In the first half of 2007, SIPO granted 167,750 patents, increased 40.5 percent over the last year's 119,419. Of this number, domestic patent granted reached 142,264, up 44.5 percent over the last year's 98,479. A total of 25,486 patents were granted to overseas applicants, a number 21.7 percent higher than last year's 20,940. Of the three kinds of patents, the number of patent for invention granted reached 32,031, up 15.3 percent year on year, patent for utility model granted, 65,018, and patent for design granted, 70,701, up 43.3 percent and 52.8 percent year on year respectively. Meanwhile, the number of patents for invention, utility model and design rated for 19.1 percent, 38.8 percent and 42.1 percent of the total number of granted patents respectively.

 

The main characteristics of patent application and grant in the first half of 2007: First, the number of applications of the three kinds of patent kept rising, but the growth declined. The growth of the applications of the three kinds of patents remained at about 20 percent for successive seven years. However, the year-on-year growth in the first half this year was only 7.3 percent, much lower than the previous years. The application of patent for design continued high growth. The growth of patent for invention applications declined while the application of patent for utility model had minus growth. Second, the growth of domestic applications of patent for invention was faster than that from abroad. Under the backdrop that the growth of patent for invention applications both at home and abroad declined, the growth of domestic applications of patent for invention was nearly 3 percentage points higher than that of abroad. The proportion of domestic applications of patent for invention among all the applications of patent for invention in the first half this year was nearly 14 percentage points higher than that of overseas applications. Third, the growth of domestic patent application was contributed by service applications, since service applications increased by 20 percent year on year while non-service applications dropped by 1.4 percent. Enterprises' patent application maintained strong growing impetus. Fourth, the number of the three kinds of patents granted increased dramatically in the first half this year, up 40.5 percent year on year. China's capacity of patent examination is increasing gradually.

 

The above-mentioned figures shows that the growth of patent applications handled by China will enter a new adjusting phase, featuring the decline of the overall growth, increase of domestic service applications, strengthening of the IP protection for enterprises and institutions of scientific research, and the enhance of the consciousness of independent IP protection. With the increase of China's ability of patent examination, the procedure of patent application process will be accelerated. Thus, the piled-up patent applications, which have caught the social attention, will be further alleviated and this will help mobilize the creativity from all walks of life.

 

By the end of June 2007, SIPO totally processed 3,603,293 patent applications, including 2,944,330 domestic applications and 658,963 overseas applications, accounting for 81.7 percent and 18.3 percent respectively. The number of applications of patent for invention reached 1,193,856, that of application of patent for utility model, 1,364,600 and that of application of patent for design, 1,044,837, accounting for 33.1 percent, 37.9 percent and 29.0 percent respectively.

 

By the end of June 2007, SIPO totally granted 1,905,254, including 1,631,011 domestic patents and 274,243 overseas patents, accounting for 85.6 percent and 14.4 percent respectively. A total of 328,534 of patents for invention, 903,246 of patent for utility model and 673,474 of patent for design were granted, accounting for 17.2 percent, 47.4 percent and 35.4 percent respectively.

2007-07-23

2007-07-23