The State Intellectual Property Office recently released the statistics of Chinese patent applications and grants. According to the statistics, as the end of 2012, China received a total of 2,051,000 patent applications from home and abroad, a rise of 26% as compared with the previous year. 1,255,000 patent s were granted in 2012, an increase of 31% as compared with the previous year.
In terms of the patent applications relating to invention, a total of 653,000 applications were received, an increase of 24%. Out of 653,000 patent applications for invention, 535,000 were filed by Chinese domestic applicants, an increase of 28.7% as compared with the year 2011. 118,000 were from applicants aboard, an increase of 18.1% as compared with the year 2011. Of all the domestic patent applications for invention, 428,000 were service applications, representing 80.0% of the total. 316,000 inventions were filed by domestic enterprises, accounting for 73.8%.
With regard to the grant of patent for inventions, a total of 217,000 patent applications for inventions were granted in China. Of all the patent grants for invention, 144,000 were granted to domestic applicants, and 73,000 were granted to foreign applicants.
In 2012, 20,000 PCT applications were filed to SIPO, an increase of 14% as compared with the previous year.
