At the 2007 Q1 Press Conference of the State Intellectual Property Office of the PRC (SIPO) held on January 30, Mr. Xintian Yin, spokesman of the SIPO, briefed on the SIPO's work for the year of 2006. 
　
The year 2006 has seen significant achievements in finalizing the state intellectual property strategy, said Mr. Yin. The SIPO took initiative to lead the formulation of the state intellectual property strategy and to research extensively both at home and abroad. The subject research on patent strategies and services of intermediaries led by the SIPO and the efforts made by the Intellectual Property Strategy Office were highly recognized by the State Council. Its research in 20 different subjects has now largely completed, pending closing approval from experts. The SIPO is now focused on drafting the Framework of the State Intellectual Property Strategy, which has its first draft ready after several rounds of discussions and revisions.
  　　
At the recommendation of the SIPO, the State Council included the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of the intellectual property development into the State Special Project Plan. The respective departments of the SIPO prepared such plan as required by the State Council and the National Development and Reform Commission, which was submitted to the State Council for approval on December 25, 2006. This marked the first time since the establishment of the IPO system that the patent development plan at the departmental level was turned that for the IPO cause as a whole and integrated into the State Special Project Plan. It highlighted the important role that IPO protection is playing in China's social and economic development. 　　

Mr. Yin said, in an effort to better meet the changing needs of the international IPO system, solve the problems in the operation of the IPO system in a timely manner and allow the IPO system to play an important role in promoting innovation and socio-economic development in China, the SIPO invited experts in different areas to research into various topics and then to revise the first draft for the amendment of the Patent Law. This first draft was circulated for comments in China and other places before it was submitted to the State Council for approval on December 27, 2006. All these efforts have laid a solid foundation for the third amendment of the Patent Law, which became part of the Enactment Plan of the State Council in 2006.   　　

Sources said that three types of patent applications have grown steadily in terms of the number of patents applied and granted in China. As of the end of 2006, the accumulated number of patent applications in China has passed the 3 million mark to reach 3.334 million, among which the application for invention patent passed the one million mark to reach 1.090 million. In 2006, the applications for three types of patents totaled 573,000, an increase of 20.3% over the previous year. Among them, 210,000 applications were for invention patents, an increase of 21.4% from the previous year, 161,000 for utility model patents, an increase of 15.6% and 201,000 for design patents, an increase of 23.2%. The PCT international applications totaled 3826, an increase of 56.9% over the previous year whereas patent review and invalidation action cases stayed at 5362, similar to last year. Meanwhile, 25,000 domestic invention patents were granted, an increase of 21.1% from the previous year and accounting for 43.4% of all invention patents granted; 33,000 international invention patents were granted, an increase of 0.3% from the previous year. This showed an obvious change in the structure of domestic and international invention patents. By contrast, most patents for utility model and design were granted to domestic applicants.

The websites of Gov.cn, Xinhuanet.com, China.com.cn webcasted the live show of this press conference.

2007-02-05

2007-02-05