SIPO statistics released on December 28 show how rapidly patent filing in China has increased. After China introduced its first patent law in 1985, it took 15 years before the millionth patent application was filed. It then took 50 months to reach two million and only 27 months to pass the three million mark.
The Office claims that the proportion of Chinese applications has also increased from 42% in the first million filings, to 61% in the fourth million.
On December 20 the National Working Conference of Industrial and Commercial Administration in Beijing revealed that the number of registered trade marks in China passed three million at the end of November, a 29% increase over last year.
The State Administration of Industry and Commerce, which supervises China’s Trade Mark Office, also recognized 197 trade marks as well-known in 2007, which takes the total number of well-known trade marks to more than 1000.
