According to 2008 Yearly Report on Chinese Valid Patents released by the State Intellectual Property Office, the number of patent applications has been increasing in recent years but the life of the patents is short. Only 40% of the domestic invention patents lasted for over 10 years, lower than the average level in the world.
The longer the duration of the patent, the greater economic benefit they will produce and the higher the market value. Based on relevant statistics, only 44.0% of the domestic invention patents lasted for 10 years and 3.2% lasted for 20 years; In contrast, 82.2% of foreign patents for inventions lasted for 10 years and 22.8% lasted for 20 years.
The short life of domestic invention patents shows that on one hand, the general technology level in China is still low and there is less key patents; on the other hand, the innovators may face difficulty in maintaining the patent rights and this needs to be supported.
