China strengthens IP protection efforts

BEIJING -- China has granted 798,000 invention patents in 2022, with 9.4 high-value invention patents for every 10,000 people, the country's top intellectual property (IP) regulator said Monday.

The review period for invention patents was shortened to 16.5 months, and the review period for trademark registrations averaged 4 months, Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, told a press conference.

China saw 70,000 international applications filed under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2022 and the country rose to the 11th position on the Global Innovation Index 2022 released by WIPO, according to Shen.

Last year, China handled 44,000 cases of illegal acts in the fields of patent and trademark, and 58,000 administrative adjudication cases concerning patent infringement disputes. It also dealt with 71,000 applications for assistance in safeguarding rights.

The total import and export of intellectual property royalties reached 387.25 billion yuan (about $56.26 billion) in 2022, up 2.4 percent year on year, with export volume up 17 percent year on year.

The added value of China's patent-intensive industries reached 14.3 trillion yuan in 2021, up 17.9 percent from the previous year and accounting for 12.44 percent of GDP.