Recently, our firm won the first instance of an administrative litigation case for invalidation of an invention patent, in which it is ruled that the invention patent should be comp...
Introduction In the chemical field, it is difficult to seek invalidation of a patent claiming to have achieved unexpected technical effect. This case provides a strategy for success...
CNIPA Granted 339,000 Invention Patent Applications in the First Half Year of 2021
According to the statistics released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (Hereinafter referred to as “CNIPA”), in the first half of 2021, the main intellectual property (IP) index of China was consistent with the expectation, and IP sector maintained steady development.
On 14th July, CNIPA held the regular news conference of the third quarter of 2021 in Beijing. This conference released the main statistics of the first half year of 2021 on patent, trademark, geographical indications and integrated circuit layout as well as the latest development in the field of IP rights reflected by the statistics.
The main IP statistics of the first half year of 2021
(1) Patent
In the first half year, a total of 339,000 invention patent applications were granted. By the end of June, the total number of valid invention patents in China had reached 3.324 million, with domestic applications (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) accounting for 2.454 million. And CNIPA received 33,300 PCT applications, a increase of 12.6% year-on-year.
In the first half year, China granted 1.327 million utility model patents and 393,000 design patents. 28,400 patent reexamination cases were concluded and 4,300 invalidation cases were announced concluded.
(2) Trademark
In the first half year, 3.724 million trademarks were registered in China. By the end of June, the number of valid registered trademark has reached 335.48 million, an increase of 22.4%. And 2,954 applications for Madrid Trademark Registration filed by Chinese applicants were received.
In the first half year, 82,000 trademark opposition cases and 188,000 various trademark review cases were concluded.
(3) Geographical indications
In the first half of 2021, China approved 87 applications for geographical indication protection products and 254 registered geographical indication trademarks for collective marks and certification marks. By the end of June 2021, a total of 2,478 products have been approved to be protected by geographical indication; 6,339 geographical indication trademarks have been registered for collective marks and certification marks; 12,789 enterprises have been approved to use geographical indication.
(4) Integrated circuit layout design
In the first half of 2021, 7,659 integrated circuit layout design registrations were issued, maintaining steady and relatively fast growth.
(5) Intellectual property protection and utilization
In the first half year, the total number of administrative adjudication cases concerning patent infringement disputes nationwide was 13,800. The national patent and trademark pledge financing reached CNY 10.74 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25.9%, with 6,195 pledged projects involved, a year-on-year increase of 32.4%.
Among them, the amount of patent pledge financing was CNY 86.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of 32.4%; the number of pledged projects was 5,497, an increase of 31.8% on year-on-year basis; the total amount of trademark pledge financing was CNY 21.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of 5.0%, and the number of pledged projects was 698, an increase of 37.7% on year-on-year basis.
The characteristics of the statistics of the first half year are as follow
First, the ability to examine intellectual property rights is constantly strengthened. The relatively rapid year-on-year increase of the granted patents, trademarks and integrated circuit layout designs has shown that market entities in China are more active in innovation, creation and entrepreneurship, which is realized through deepening reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve services in the IP field and improving the quality and efficiency of IP examination.
Also, the examination period has been shortened. By the end of June, the average examination period for invention patent has been reduced to 19.4 months and the examination period for high-valued patent has been reduced to 13.4 months, while the average examination period for trademark registration has stabilized within 4 months.
Second, the number of domestic enterprises owning invention patents has been steadily increasing. By the end of June, there were 270,000 domestic enterprises owning valid invention patents, having increased 24,000 in the past six months. Among them, there were 126,000 high-tech enterprises owning 1.077 million valid invention patents, accounting for 62.3% of the total number of valid invention patents of domestic enterprises. The above shows that the technical innovation capacity of domestic enterprises has been increasingly improved.
Third, the number of foreign applicants for IP registration in China continues to increase. In the first half year, CNIPA has granted 54,000 invention patents filed by foreigners, with a year-on-year increase of 30%; the number of trademark registered by foreigners in China has reached 90,000, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. Among them, the granted patents and registered trademarks filed by Americans increased by 35% and 8.9% respectively.
The above data reflect that the foreign enterprises are confident in China’s business environment and are willing to do business and to obtain IP portfolio in China.
