(Source: CNIPA)

On January 10, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) held a press conference and released statistics for the year 2018 on patents, trademarks, geographic indications (GI) and layout designs of integrated circuits.

In 2018, granted invention patents in China totaled 432,000, 346,000 of which were from domestic users. Huawei (3,369), Sinopec (2,849) and OPPO (2,345) ranked top three in terms of the number of granted invention patens in China. As of the end of 2018, the grants of invention patents in China amounted to 1.602 million. The number of invention patents owned by every 10,000 people reached 11.5. In 2018, CNIPA received 55,000 PCT applications, up 9.0%; 52,000 of which were from local users, up 9.3%. The pendency for high-value patent examination was shrunk by 10% with a 52-percent reduction in complaints against patent examination.

In 2018, the number of registered trademarks in China was 5.007 million, 4.797 million of which were filed here. As of the end of 2018, China housed 18.049 million valid registered trademarks with 1,724 trademarks owned by every 10,000 market players. In 2018, there were 6,594 Madrid international trademark applications. As of the end of 2018, the valid Madrid international trademark applications from China were 31,000, up 23.5%. In 2018, the concluded trademark applications were 8.043 million and the average examination pendency for trademark registration was curtailed below 6 months. The time spent for hearing trademark rejection review cases was reduced within 7 months.

In 2018, there were 67 GI products under protection, 961 registered GI trademarks and 223 businesses certified to use GIs. In 2018, CNIPA received 4,431 registered applications of layout designs of integrated circuits, up 37.3%; 3,815 of which were certified, up 42.9%.

According to experts, in 2018, key indicators of IP in China made steady progress, confidence in China's IP protection from abroad were constantly strengthened and comprehensive strength of IP were reaching a new stage. Meanwhile, domestic companies further improved their status as key innovation force, Chinese companies continued to bolster patenting globally and invention patent quality of China was on steady rise.