Intellectual Property in China - The Results
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%.