Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province was among the first national IP model cities, according to the White Paper of Guangdong’s IPR Protection in 2012 released on April 23. Trademark strategies were fully implemented in the city. Particularly, international patent applications filed under PCT by ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technology Co., Ltd. ranked 1^st and 4^th among global enterprises respectively.

According to the white paper, invention patent applications and grants hit 60,448 and 22,153 in the province in 2012, with both ranking 1st nationwide for 5 years in a row; international patent applications filed under PCT reached 9,211, ranking 1^st nationwide for 11 years in a row. IP offices at all levels in the province handled 614 cases on patent counterfeiting, 4 times more than that of 2011.

In terms of trademark administration and protection, the newly recognized famous trademarks of Guangdong recorded 351, and 630 such marks were renewed, with the total number amounting to 2,919; Chinese well-known trademarks newly recognized were 102, totaling 445 and ranking 1^st for 7 years. Industrial and commercial administrations in Guangdong are exploring ways to establish a long-term trademark supervision mechanism. Shenzhen has finished the trademark pre-alarm system.

As of the end of 2012, registered software products had reached 5,679. Guangzhou and Shenzhen were awarded as “China Software Cities”. Cloud computing, Internet of things and other emerging technology-related software industries all saw a rapid growth.

(Source:IPR in China)