WSG Article: Intellectual Property in China - The Results - PLMJ

Intellectual Property in China - The Results

May, 2013 -

Increase in the Registration of Patents, Trademarks and Property Protected by Copyright - The various plans and the range of measures included in them that have been described have produced practical results, particularly an increase in the applications for registration of patents, trademarks and protection by copyright, specifically for property such as software.

In terms of applications for patents registered in 2011, China came in first place above the USA and Japan. Indeed, patent registration applications in China demonstrated rapid growth with a total of 1 633 000 applications.

Furthermore, processes of examination and conclusion of patents by the SIPO (State Intellectual Property Office) maintained constant growth: 271 202 invention patents, 443 676 utility model patents and 502 828 patents for industrial designs were subjected to substantive examination, with an annual growth of 14.3 %, 14.6% and 14.2%, respectively. At the same time, in 2011 the Chinese administrative authorities dealt with a total of 3017 cases on patents, with an annual growth of 65.5%.

SIPO statistics reveal that there were 2 740 000 patents valid in 2012 and this represents growth of 23.6% in relation to the previous year and includes 697 000 new inventions, with a growth of 23.4% with reference to 2011, 1 121 000 valid utility models and 922,000 valid designs. 351 000 inventions came out of continental China and this represent 50.4% of the total. In 2012, there were 2.37 patents for every 10 000 inhabitants of continental China .

For trademarks, 2011 saw a total of 1 416 785 applications for registration in China representing growth of 32.14% on an annual basis. This volume of registration applications was no less than double the level for 2008 and this led to China being classified in first place in the world for the 10th consecutive year. In 2011 there were 42 270 applications for registration of international trademarks of which 2149 were presented by China, placing it seventh in the world in the area.

In addition to this, in 2011 the administration organisations for commerce and industry (AICs), investigated and settled 79 021 cases of infringements of registered trademarks demonstrating an annual growth of 41.02%.

As to the subject of copyright, it is worth noting the revision of the Copyright Law in 2011, after 20 years of pressure from all sectors of society for it to be amended in order to adapt it to the economic and social transformation and the growing competition on the area of intellectual property. This revision has revealed itself to be particularly auspicious and so there is great expectation as to its results. The three main reasons singled out as justification for the need for this revision were (1) the limitations of the law arising from the fact that it was published on the context of a planned economy; (2) the fact that the system for copyright that was in force showed little capacity to adapt to the development of new technologies and the widespread use of the Internet and, finally, (3) the fact that China is facing the continuous evolution of the rules of international protection of copyright in parallel with the expansion of economic globalisation.

MEMBER COMMENTS

WSG Member: Please login to add your comment.

Contact
JOIN

Quick Links