On January 22, the China National Intellectual Property Administration held a regular press conference for the first quarter of 2021 in Beijing. CNIPA released statistics of China's patents, trademarks, geographical indication, and layout-design of integrated circuits in 2020, as well as the new trends and new characteristics of the development of China’s IP reflected through these data.
Data shows that in 2020, China's main intellectual property indicators met the expectations, and the development of intellectual property has reached a new level.
Main statistics
Patent
In 2020, 530,000 pieces of invention patents were authorized in China. As of the end of 2020, China's domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) valid number of invention patents was 2.213 million. The number of invention patents per 10,000 population reached 15.8 pieces, exceeded the target of twelve pieces expected in the “Outline of Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”.
In 2020, there were 72,000 PCT international patent applications accepted, of which 67,000 pieces were submitted by domestic applicants.
In 2020, China authorized 2.377 million utility model patents and 732,000 pieces of design patents. There were 48,000 patent reexamination cases concluded, a year-on-year increase of 28.9%, and 7,000 invalidation announcement cases were concluded, a year-on-year increase of 34.1%.
Trademark
In 2020, 5.761 million trademarks were registered in China. There were 7,553 pieces of applications for the international registration of Madrid trademarks from domestic applicants were received.
In 2020, 149,000 trademark opposition cases were reviewed, a year-on-year increase of 64.7%; 358,000 trademark review cases were completed, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%.
Geographical indication
In 2020, ten applications for the protection of geographical indication products were accepted, six geographical indication products were approved for protection, 1,052 enterprises were approved to use geographical indication special signs, and 765 pieces of geographical indication trademarks were approved to be registered. By the end of 2020, a total of 2,391 geographical indication products have been approved, 9,479 companies using special signs have been approved, and 6,085 pieces of geographical indication trademarks have been registered.
Layout-design of Integrated Circuits
In 2020, China's layout-design of integrated circuit registration applications were 14,375, a year-on-year increase of 72.8%; 11,727 certificates were issued, a year-on-year increase of 77.3%.
IP Protection and Use
In 2020, the national intellectual property system handled over 42,000 administrative rulings on patent infringement disputes. The social satisfaction score of intellectual property protection exceeded 80 points for the first time, reached 80.05 points.
In 2020, China's patent and trademark pledge financing projects reached 12,039, an increase of 43.8% year-on-year; the total amount of pledge financing reached 218 billion yuan, an increase of 43.9% year-on-year.
According to reports, the statistics of 2020 presented four characteristics.
First, the quality and efficiency of intellectual property review have been further improved.
In 2020, the quality and efficiency of intellectual property examination in China will be steadily promoted. The examination period of high-value patents has been reduced to 14 months, the average examination period of invention patents has been reduced to 20 months, and the average examination period of trademark registration applications has been shortened to four months.
Second, the structure of domestic invention patents has been continuously optimized, and the quality has been further improved.
As of the end of 2020, among the effective domestic invention patents in China, 281,000 had been maintained for more than ten years, accounting for 12.3% of the total, an increase of one percent from the previous year. The dominant position of enterprise innovation was further consolidated. There were 246,000 domestic companies with valid invention patents, an increase of 33,000 from the previous year. Among them, there are 105,000 high-tech enterprises with 922,000 valid invention patents, accounting for nearly 60% of the number of valid invention patents owned by domestic enterprises.
Third, the ability of enterprises to deploy overseas intellectual property rights has been further enhanced.
In 2020, the PCT international patent applications submitted by domestic applicants increased by 17.9% year-on-year; the ‘Madrid International Registration of Marks’ received from domestic applicants has increased by 16.1% year-on-year. Relevant statistics showed that from January to November 2020, China’s exports of intellectual property royalties amounted to 7.47 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 24.2%. All these fully demonstrated that the overseas intellectual property distribution capabilities of Chinese enterprises had been further enhanced.
Fourth, the countries along the “Belt and Road” are more confident in their development in China.
In 2020, countries along the “Belt and Road” will increase their patent distribution in China. Among them, 23,000 pieces of invention patent applications were filed in China, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%, which is higher than the year-on-year growth rate of foreign countries in China. Among them, Singapore increased by 21.0% year-on-year, and South Korea increased by 4.4% year-on-year.
Source: chinaipmagazine.com
