Patent Applications Accepted by SIPO Surpassed 170,000 in First Four Months

August 8, 2007

It is said that from January to April of 2007, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has already accepted more than 171,500 applications covering three categories of patent according to the recent meeting held by SIPO, up 10.1% against the same period of last year, and around 110,000 applications have been granted, up 46.4% against last year.

The heads of the SIPO’s International Cooperation Department, Coordination and Administration Department, Planning and Development Department, Legal Affairs Department, and Patent Affairs Administration Department introduced the recent situation on the relevant work in SIPO and answered questions raised by the audience from representatives from embassies in China, foreign enterprises and law firms.

According to Mr. Mao Jinsheng, deputy director of the Planning and Development Department, during the first four months of this year, SIPO has accepted around 67,700 invention patent applications, up 9.7% compared with the same period last year. SIPO accepted around 47,600 utility model applications, with a drop of 0.5% against last year, and around 56,300 design applications, with an increase of 21.5% against last year.

As for the construction of the legal system, Ms. Song Jianhua, deputy director of the Legal Affairs Department, said that the third draft of the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China has been submitted to the Legislative Office of the State Council. The Office carried out the related researches and sought advice or suggestions from people of all walks of life. Now, the Office has finished piling up the opinions.

In addition, as to the period of examination, Mr. Zhang Maoyu, deputy director of the Patent Examination Department, said that up to 2006, the substantial examination period of an invention patent application has been shortened to 22 months. The examination periods of the utility model and design applications are nine months and six months respectively. The period of re-examination and invalidation cases is 13 months.