China sees remarkable achievements en route to IP powerhouse

As shown in the 2017 China Intellectual Property Development Evaluation Report recently released by Intellectual Property Development and Research Center under the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), China's 2017 intellectual property comprehensive development index is 218.3 (100 in 2010 as a benchmark), up 9.0 percent from the previous year, maintaining a relatively high-speed increase. Meanwhile, China jumped from 14th to 10th in the category of intellectual development level in a 40-country lineup that consists of 34 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), five BRICS members and Singapore.

According to the report, China's creation index is 216.5 in 2017, up 27.0 points. The creation index increased steadily from 100 points in 2010 to 216.5 in 2017 with steps expedited after 2013. In regard to more specific data, numbers of applications and registrations of major kinds of intellectual property are all on visible rise while the structure of them is further improved. In the meantime, creation efficiency also shows strong growth. 

China's patent quality is also improving steadily. As shown in the Report, national patent maintaining ratio reached 60.0 percent, up 3.9 percent from last year. Compared with 2016, every province is in the up column with Anhui, Guangxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang pacing the pack. Patent-loaded provinces such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong tend to maintain their patents more carefully with their maintaining ratio at 70.0 percent, 69.3 percent and 64.4 percent. The average years of maintenance for an invention patent in 2017 is 6.2, up 0.3 year from 2016. The provinces with numbers over 6 years are Beijing, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan, Guizhou and Tibet. PCT international patent applications are mostly from Guangdong, Beijing and Jiangsu, accounting for 56.5 percent、10.7 percent and 9.7 percent respectively. It saw a large grow  in Guangdong grew from 23,574 to 26,830 and Jiangsu from 3,213 to 4,590.

"Patent quality is the main focus of the Report in recent years. We try to reflect the improved position of patent quality in the development of China IP undertaking through adjusting indexes and adding weight," noted Han Xiucheng, Director General of SIPO's Intellectual Property Development and Research Center, creator of the Report.

In recent years, based on the status quo and development need, China attaches more importance to improving patent quality while keeping a steady rise of patents. At the end of 2015, Opinion on Accelerating the Building of IP Powerhouse under New Conditions issued by the State Council further specified 'We should improve IP added value and international influence, implement patent quality improvement project, and foster a batch of core patents.' Local authorities then were striving to improve patent quality in their areas based on their own specific situations.
As of now, China is the second largest origin for international patent applications and the third for international trademark applications. For many years, China's achievements in IP were gradually recognized in the world, one phenomenon that is also revealed in the Report.