According to the latest statistics from SIPO, patent filing and grants are still on the fast track in the first three quarters. SIPO received 423,000 invention patent applications, up 22.3%. 336,000 are from home, up 26.3% and representing 79.4% of the total. 87,000 are from abroad, up 8.8% and representing 20.6% of the total. The 336,000 are further broken down into 272,000 or 81.0% service ones (corporate) and 66,400 or 19.0% non-service ones (individual). "Giving the credit to the enterprises, patent filings from home are seeing continuous growth." said a staff from SIPO.

The share of the domestic invention filings of the total sees an almost 10% growth in the first three quarters over those in 2009. "It is just the growth gives a best example that the  policy of building China into an innovational nation and enterprises being major innovators has been thoroughly carried out." said Professor Tao Xinliang from Shanghai University.

Statistics show that not only the domestic invention patent application structure is optimized; the patents granted also maintain a rapid growth. In the first three quarters, SIPO granted 164,000 invention patents, up 28.1%. 108,000 are from home, up 30.1% and representing 65.9%, 56,200 are from abroad, up 24.4% and representing 34.1%. The 108,000 are broken down into 94,000 or 87.0% service ones and 14,000 or 13.0% non-service ones.

Numbers also show that SIPO received a total number of 13,860 international applications under PCT, up 13.8%. As the end of September, each 10,000 civilians hold 3.02 invention patents, up 27.0% over those in the end of last year.

Professor Tao spoke highly of the achievement in patent filings and grants by China in recent years. He said that China is now entering the knowledge economy age, IPR development shadows economic development trend. "China is now seeing a fast growth in economy, continuous enhancement in innovation capacity, a better sense of patent awareness and sustainable growth in patent filings. Patent application structure has been optimized in recent years. Applicants are now attaching great importance to the invention patents on top of the utility model and design patents. China has witnessed steady advances in IPR examination and registration, new breakthroughs have been made in terms of quality and quantity."

According to the statistics, SIPO received a total number of 1.399 million patent applications in the first three quarters, up 28.6%. However, inside-watcher noticed that the growth rate slowed down and dropped 10.0%. "It's so natural and common that patent filing growth rate slowed down after years of blistering ascent, and it reflects filers attend more to patent quality right now. The ultimate goal is transferring from China-made to China-create." said Proffessor Tao.

(China IP News)