Patent claims see biggest rise in 20 years
Patent applications on the mainland increased by more than a third last year, but quality standards were lower than overseas, the state intellectual property chief said in Beijing yesterday.
State Intellectual Property Office director Tian Lipu said his office had accepted 476,264 patent applications last year, up 34.6 per cent - the highest increase in two decades. About a third were applications for new inventions.
The office granted 214,003 patents last year, up 12.5 per cent, but only about 25 per cent were for invention patents, Mr Tian said on the central government's website.
He said the quality of domestic patent applications was lower than that of foreign applications filed on the mainland, though the domestic outnumbered the foreign by more than four to one.
The average lifespan of an invention on the mainland was about five to seven years, but it could be more than 10 years in some foreign countries. 'It shows our country's innovative ability needs improvement,' he said.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) experts said the increase in applications was encouraging, but the quality of the inventions needed to be improved.
Gu Baidi, from the Beijing Jiahe Law Firm, said the increases in the number of patents applied for and granted should be welcomed, 'but the ratio of invention, the most significant patent, should be improved'.
The mainland patent system comprises invention, utility mode and design patents. Mr Gu said many foreign countries did not recognise the utility mode, which required a lower standard of innovation, as a form of patent. Design patents only required preliminary examination rather than the substantive examination required in many countries.
He suggested that the mainland's patent system be revamped with stricter standards to match international norms.
