State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) released at a business meeting on May 18, 2007 that from January to April this year, it has received more than 171,500 patent applications in three categories, a 10.1% rise compared to that of the same period last year, and granted about 110,000 approvals, 46.4 percent more than last year. 

According to Mao Jinsheng, Deputy Director of SIPO's Development Planning Department, in the first quarter, SIPO received about 67,700 invention patent applications, 9.7% more than in the same period of last year;  47,600 utility model patent applications, a 0.5% decline compared to the same period of last year; and 56,300 design patent applications, a 21.5% rise compared to the same period of last year. 

Regarding legislation, Mr. Song Jianhua, Deputy Director of the SIPO's Legal Affairs Department, said that the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council has done research on the third amendment to the Patent Law (draft) after its submission and solicited opinions from the society. The collected opinions have been tackled by now. 

Regarding the review period about which people are concerned, Mr. Zhang Maoyu, Deputy Director of the SIPO's Patent Affairs Administration Department, indicated that by the end of 2006, the substantive review period had been shortened to 22 months for inventions, 9 months and 6 months for utility models and designs respectively, and 13 months for reexamination of patents claimed as invalid.