16 July 2020
The first half of 2020 paints a bright picture for the IP scene in China as major IP indicators were shown to be in sync with development expectations.
The strength of IP rights has also been steadily enhanced.
These were the key takeaways from the IP Statistics for the First Half Year 2020 recently released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
The report covers patents, trademarks, geographical indications and layout designs of integrated circuits.
For the first half of 2020, invention patent applications in the country numbered to 683,000. A total of 217,000 invention patents were granted. Of these, 176,000 were domestic invention patents. The three leading enterprises in mainland China in terms of number of patents granted were Huawei Technologies with 2,772, Oppo Guangdong Mobile Communications Co. with 1,925 and BOE Technology Group with 1,432.
For the same period, CNIPA accepted 29,500 international patent applications under the PCT, posting a year on year increase of 22.6%. Of this number, 26,800 were domestic applications – an increase of 20.7% year-on-year.
The statistics also reported a total of 26,200 reexamination requests accepted, 25,700 cases closed, 2,600 invalidation requests accepted, and 4,300 cases closed.
Additionally, the statistics indicated the following examination periods: 20.3 months for invention patents, 15.2 months for high-value patents, 6.4 months for utility models, 3.2 months for design.
On the other hand, trademark applications totaled 4.284 million while trademark registrations numbered to 2.629 million. By the end of June, valid trademark registrations in China reached 27.414 million.
A total of 166,00 trademark review cases were received and 192,000 cases were closed. Also, there were 3,875 applications to the Madrid International Registration of Marks from China for a year on year increase of 36 percent. The figure also upped the overall number of valid applications to the Madrid International Registration of Marks from China to 41,000 as of June 2020.
Statistics further revealed that the average examination period for trademark registration was shortened to less than 4.5 months.
Meanwhile, 364 GI trademarks were approved and registered, raising the total number of registered GI trademarks in China to 5,682 as of end of June.
For the 364 GI trademarks registered during the first half of the year, 322 enterprises were approved to use the GIs. This pulls up the total number of enterprises approved to use the GIs to 8,811.
Additionally, 2,385 products have been approved for protection by GIs as of June 2020.
Regarding layout design for integrated circuits, a total of 5,176 registration applications were received for a year-on-year increase of 78.2%. Certificates issued numbered to 5,262, posting a 111.6% year-over-year increase.
Patent infringement dispute administrative adjudication cases reached 5,320. Meanwhile, the pledged financing amount for patents and trademarks in the entire country was at Rmb85.3 billion (US$ 12.2 billion), increasing by 45% year-over-year.
Espie Angelica A. de Leon
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