I. Situation of Applied Patents　

　
As of Dec. 2006, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) accepted 3,334,374 applications for three categories of patent, among them 2,727,626 are domestic，and 606,748 external, accounting for 81.8% and 18.2% respectively. In terms of invention, application and appearance design, the numbers are 1,089,521, 1,289,868 and 954,985, making up 32.7%, 38.9% and 28.6%, respectively. 

In 2006 the SIPO accepted three categories of patent application totaling 573,178, up 20.3% from 476,264 cases of the same period. Among them 470,342 are domestic, up 22.8% from 383,157, accounting for 82.1% of the total, and 102,836 are external, up 10.4% from 93,107, for 17.9% of the total.
　　
Among the three categories of patent applications accepted in 2006 applications for invention patent went up 21.4% to 210,490 from 173,327 last year, those for applied type are 161,366, an increase of 15.6% from 139,566, and those for appearance design are 201,322, up 23.2% from 163,371, on a year-on-year basis.
　
Among the three categories of invention patent applications accepted in 2006, 122,318 are domestic, up 30.8% from 93,485 last year, accounting for 58.1% of the total. There are 88,172 from abroad, an increase of 10.4% from 79,842, for 41.9% of the total.
　
Among the three categories of patent applications accepted in 2006 service patent applications went up 21.8% to 303,174 from 248,858, non-service ones are 270,004, an increase of 18.7% from 227,406, on a year-on-year basis.

Among the three categories of profession patent applications accepted in 2006, domestic service patent applications went up 28.1% to 203,566 from 158,882 last year, accounting for 43.3% of the domestic applications, external ones are 99,608, an increase of 10.7% from 89.976, for 96.9% of external applications. Among domestic service patent applications, 166,874 are from industrial and mining enterprises, a rise of 31.0% year-on-year from 127,397, accounting for 11.3% of domestic service patent applications; 9,878 are from science and research institutes, up 1.4% from 9,746 cases, for 4.8% of domestic service patent applications; and 3,864 are from government agencies and public undertakings, a sharp rise of 125.4% from 1,818 cases, making up 1.9% of the total.

Among the applications for invention service patent accepted in 2006, there are 81,485 domestic ones, a sharp rise of 30.9% from 62,270 last year, accounting for 66.6% of the domestic invention patent ones. In the applications for domestic invention service patent, 56,455 are from industrial and mining enterprises, a big increase of 40.4% from 40,196, for 69.2% of the total or 33.8% of the three categories of patent applications from industrial and mining sectors.
　　
Patent applications in 2006 have 5 characteristics: Firstly, the three categories of applications increased at a sustained speed, and with a substantial margin in invention patent applications. From 2000 to 2006 the three categories of patent applications and invention patent applications greatly increased for 7 successive years at an average rate of over 20%. In 2006 the annual average growth rate stood at 20.3% for the three categories, among them it was 21.4% for invention patent. From 1985 to 2006, invention patent applications accumulated at 1,089,521, exceeding the height of one million. Secondly, domestic patent applications reported a year-on-year growth of 22.8%, 12.4 percentage points higher than 10.4% of external ones. Thirdly, domestic invention patent applications grew obviously at a higher rate than external ones. In terns of those with relatively higher content of technology, domestic applications increased 30.8% on the year-on-year basis, 20.4 percentage points higher than 10.4% of the external ones. There are 122,318 domestic invention patent applications, 1.39 times the number of 88,172 from abroad. Fourthly, the three categories of domestic service patent applications exceed non-service ones in growth rate, the rate for the former stood at 28.1% and 19.0% for non-service ones on a year-on-year basis, or the former is 9.1 percentage points higher than the latter. Fifthly, enterprises represent the major force in the three categories of service patent applications. Among the total of domestic ones, industrial and mining enterprises, schools of high learning, academies of science and research, and public undertakings make up 82.0%, 11.3%, 4.8% and 1.9%, respectively. Those from industrial and mining enterprises registered a year-on-year growth rate of 31.0%, higher than that for domestic service patent applications. 

Sustained rapid growth of domestic patent applications is an indication, on the one hand, that domestic research has increased its level continuously and, on the other, that the awareness of patent is upgraded remarkably among the public in China. Patent applications from domestic industrial and mining enterprises exceed all the domestic service patent applications by 80%, and, moreover, at a higher year-on-year rate. This shows, Chinese enterprise units more than ever attach importance to protecting their self-renovations by legal means, and have gradually become the mainstay of self-renovation. On the other hand, foreign companies in China file patent applications at a sustained fast speed, and those from some major countries increase at a rate higher than in their home countries. This proves that the socialist economic system in China is being complete and its patent protection climate is further improved, which poses strong attractiveness to foreign businesses.  　　

II. Situation of Granted Patents
　　
By the end of December 31, 2006 the SIPO had granted 1,737,507 licenses for patent, of which 1,488,725 were for domestic applications, and 248,782 for external ones, accounting for 85.7% and 14.3%, respectively. Among them 296,507, 833,227 and 602,773 were for invention, applied type and appearance design, for 17.1%, 48.2% and 34.7% of the total, respectively. 

In 2006 the SIPO granted patent licenses totaling 268,002, a rise of 25.2% from 214,003. Among them 223,860 were for domestic applications, up 30.4% from 171,619, and 44,142 were for external applications, up 4.1% from 42,384; 135,597 were for service patent applications, up 20.7% from 112,338, and 132,405 for non-service ones. Among the three categories of patent licenses, 57,785 were for invention patent, up 8.4% from 53,305, and 107,655 were for applied patent,  up 35.7% from 79,349, and 102,561 were for appearance design patent, up 26.1% from 81,349, all the above was worked out on a year-on-year basis. These three types of patent licenses accounted for 21.6%, 40.2% and 38.2% of the total, respectively.    　

III. Situation of Applications and Licenses in the Whole country
　　
In order to better understand and make comparison, applications accepted and licenses granted throughout the country and their ranking are presented in the form of chart as follows: (Charts 1 and 2)　

 

 Chart 1 Top 10 and their ranks in terms of number and region in 2006
 

 

Three categories of patent  Invention Patent Province(region, municipality) Number Rank Province(region, municipality) Number Rank Guangdong 90886 1 Guangdong 21351 1 Jiangsu 53267 2 Beijing 14226 2 Zhejiang 52980 3 Shanghai 12050 3 Shandong 38284 4 Taiwan 10407 4 Shanghai 36042 5 Jiangsu 10214 5 Beijing 26555 6 Zhejiang 8333 6 Taiwan 22496 7 Shandong 7237 7 Liaoning 17052 8 Tianjin 4981 8 Hubei 14576 9 Liaoning 4368 9 Tianjin 13299 10 Hunan 3578 10

   Chart 2 Applications and Licenses in 2006 by region

 

Province(region, municipality) Applications Grants Total Invention Utility Model Design Total Invention Utility Model Design Beijing 26555 14226 8200 4129 11238 3864 5490 1884 Tianjin 13299 4981 4184 4134 4159 967 2164 1028 Hebei 7220 1597 3894 1729 4131 407 2699 1025 Shanxi 2824 965 1341 518 1421 314 890 217 Neimenggu 1946 430 915 601 978 108 543 327 Liaoning 17052 4368 8594 4090 7399 1063 5277 1059 Jinlin 4578 1335 2241 1002 2319 449 1466 404 Heilongjiang 6535 1911 3418 1206 3622 565 2488 569 Shanghai 36042 12050 9881 14111 16602 2644 6739 7219 Jiangsu 53267 10214 13386 29667 19352 1631 8849 8872 Zhejiang 52980 8333 15940 28707 30968 1424 10503 19041 Anhui 4679 1274 2083 1322 2235 272 1308 655 Fujian 10351 1437 3445 5469 6412 310 2578 3524 Jiangxi 3171 823 1551 797 1536 157 896 483 Shandong 38284 7237 15583 15464 15937 1092 10389 4456 Henan 11538 2404 5376 3758 5242 450 3260 1532 Hubei 14576 2827 5745 6004 4734 855 3031 848 Hunan 10249 3578 4142 2529 5608 581 2540 2487 Guangdong 90886 21351 23886 45649 43516 2441 15644 25431 Guangxi 2784 679 1381 724 1442 183 803 456 Chongqing 6471 1204 2591 2676 4590 246 1935 2409 Sichuan 13109 2930 4401 5778 7138 676 2644 3818 Guizhou 2674 923 1220 531 1337 188 862 287 Yunnan 3085 1005 1076 1004 1637 355 689 593 Tibet 89 21 21 47 81 7 15 59 Shaanxi 5717 1815 2166 1736 2473 602 1443 428 Gansu 1460 550 663 247 832 145 514 173 Qinghai 325 79 98 148 97 30 45 22 Ningxia 671 172 245 254 290 64 142 84 Xinjiang 2256 381 1166 709 1187 107 805 275 Hainan 538 246 158 134 248 39 103 106 Hong Kong 2623 563 594 1466 1881 148 502 1231 Macao 12 2 7 3 15 0 9 6 Taiwan 22496 10407 10405 1684 13203 2693 9047 1463

 

2007-01-17

2007-01-17