European Patent Office Received 13,000 Patent Filings from China

August 20, 2011

Raimund Lutz, Vice-President Directorate-General of the European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced in Beijing that EPO received 13,000 patent filings from China in 2010, up 96% compared with those received in 2008, showing Chinese Government’s increasing efforts in protecting intellectual property rights.

It's at the closing ceremony of the EU-China Intellectual Property Project (Stage II) (IPR2) that Raimund Lutz issued the announcement. It was said by Raimund Lutz that, during IPR2, China’s organs for intellectual property rendered positive efforts to achieve success of IPR2.

In 2007, the Chinese Government and the European Commission (the “EC”) jointly invested EURO 16.275 million for the implementation of the IPR2 Project which lasts 4 years (ending in 2011), wherein EC invested EURO 10.85 million and China invested EURO 5.425 million. The Ministry of Commerce of China is the organ to implement the project on behalf of China, and the European Patent Office is the organ to implement the project on behalf of the EC.