The statistics show that from 2011 to 2014, the State Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter SIPO) received a total of 8,422,000 applications for three kinds of patents, 86,500 PCT applications, 74,000 requests for reexamination and 12,000 requests for invalidation. From 2011 to 2014, about 6,300,000 patent applications were handled, and about 56,000 reexaminations cases and more than 10,000 invalidation cases were closed.
In order to meet the ever-increasing demand of innovation and improve the examination abilities, SIPO already set up patent cooperation centers in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Henan, Hubei, Tianjin and Sichuan. Now there are 7 patent examination centers (including Beijing) which help examine patent applications. Up to now, there are over 12,000 examiners in 7 centers and examination departments.
SIPO also took a series of measures to accelerate the patent examination and reduce the backlog. It opened green channel for patent examination of green technologies and strategic emerging industries, prioritization examination for invention applications with significant effect on the national economy. Additionally, SIPO started the circuit examination of patent applications which invites examiners to the residing place of the applicant and have a face-to-face communication with applicants and patent agents. With regard to the reexamination and invalidation, the Patent Reexamination Board established 10 circuit trial panels around China and conduct oral hearings.
As a result of all different measures, the pending time for applications for inventions was reduced from 24.2 months in 2010 to 21.8 months in 2014. The pending time for patent applications for utility model is 3.5 months, and 3.7 months for design applications. In terms of reexamination and invalidation, the pending time is 14.6 months and 7.2 months respectively.
