China's all-around progress in IPR protection

China has achieved all-around development in the intellectual property rights (IPR) sector with remarkable results. The following facts and figures indicate how the country is forging ahead in IPR protection:

— China has been endeavoring to cultivate a good environment for IPR development, with increasing numbers of institutions, professionals and service patterns, according to the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA).

In 2019, the number of patent and trademark agencies increased to 51,000 and practicing patent agents exceeded 20,000.

— China's comprehensive IPR protection enhancement has greatly contributed to its socio-economic development, according to the NIPA's 2019 annual evaluation report on China's IP development.

In 2018, the added value of China's patent-intensive industries hit 10.7 trillion yuan (about $1.57 trillion), about 11.6 percent of that year's GDP.

— China's persistent IPR protection efforts have led to progress at home and abroad.

Domestically, Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Beijing, Zhejiang and Shandong were the country's top performers in terms of their comprehensive IPR development indexes, according to the NIPA report.

From a global perspective, China has seen improved international status in terms of general IPR development conditions. Among 40 sample countries, China jumped from 20th place in 2014 to eighth place in 2018.

— China's accumulative valid trademark registrations totaled 28.23 million as of August, according to the NIPA.

In the first eight months of this year, the total number of applications for trademark registration reached 6.03 million, a 20.98 percent increase compared with the same period of 2019.

— China has been persistently facilitating the trademark registration sector to better serve market entities, according to the NIPA.

The review of each trademark registration in China now takes only four and a half months on average, performing well on the global scale.

There are 212 trademark registration offices across the country and 103 for trademark pledge financing.

— China has approved the establishment of two new centers for IPR protection, according to the NIPA.

The new centers, the fourth and fifth IPR protection centers in the country's western region, are located in Northwest China's Gansu province and Southwest China's Yunnan province.

So far, the country has 36 IPR protection centers nationwide.