Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, said in his keynote speech delivered at a conference for IP directors nationwide that relevant departments should seize the opportunity to unswervingly implement national intellectual property strategy and exert great efforts to realize the grand goal of building China into a moderately prosperous nation.

Some 200 representatives from IP offices at all levels in China participated in the meeting held in Beijing from January 8th to 9th.

Tian cited the report of President Hu Jintao to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China which explicitly proposed to implement innovation-driven development strategies and highlighted the importance of implementing intellectual property strategies and enhancing intellectual property protection. He noted that the priory task for China IP system was to conscientiously and comprehensively study and implement the guiding principles of the report and try to incorporate the report’s spirit into their daily work. Tian also confirmed the new progress made by IP officials in several aspects in 2012.

Currently, a total of 27 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have established their respective local outlines of intellectual property strategies and also got patent strategy promotion off to a good start.

In 2012, China has received 2.051 million patent applications, in which applications on invention amounted to 653 thousand, up 24.0%, while those filed under PCT were 20 thousand, up 12%. During the same period, patent grants hit up to 1.255 million with 217 thousand on invention, increasing by 26.1%.

As of the end of 2012, China has held a total of 435 thousand domestic invention patents in force (those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were excluded), with 3.23 invention patents owned by every ten thousand residents.

Moreover, in special campaigns led by the SIPO, a total of 9,022 patent cases, two times more than the figure in 2011, were handled with 2,510 on patent disputes and 6,512 on patent counterfeiting.

(Source:IPR in China)