According to the statistics from SIPO, a total of 48,916 cases were handled by patent administrative authoritative in 2016, an increase of 36.5% as compared with the same period of the previous year, wherein, 20,859 were patent dispute cases, an increase of 42.8%, and 28,057 were patent counterfeit cases, an increase of 32.1%.
In terms of the enforcement cases in provinces and cities, the eastern and central regions handled a majority of the cases, while, the southwest and northeast regions had the highest growth rate. Of all 31 provinces and cities, 12 provinces handled over 1,000 cases. As for patent infringing disputes, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu handled over 1,000 cases and 9 provinces showed more than 100% growth.
It is noted that the enforcement efficiency kept improving. In 2016, the settlement rate for patent cases was 97.5%, an increase of 4.3%, and the settlement rate for patent infringing disputes was 94.4%, an increase of 0.8%. At the same time, efforts were also made to intensify the enforcement in key areas, for example, 13,123 patent cases concerning e-commerce were handled, an increase of 71.4%, and 2,860 regarding exhibition were handled, an increase of 32.7%.
