Domestic Patent Applications Continue to Rise in 2005

In 2005, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) handled total 476,264 patent applications of invention, utility model and design from domestic and foreign applicants. The total number of the above patent applications continued to increase in 2005, on the basis of annual 20 percent increase rate in the past five consecutive years, at a growth rate of 34.6 percent over 2004. This recorded the highest increase rate in the past 18 years.

SIPO handled total 383,157 domestic patent applications in 2005, mounted up 37.4 percent from the same period in 2004, which is higher than the increase rate of 24.4 percent for foreign patent applications. Among the received patent applications in 2005, 93,485 were domestic invention patents, representing an increase of 42.1 percent over 2004 and taking 53.9 percent of the total invention patent applications.

In 2005, SIPO granted total 214,003 patent rights, mounted up 12.5 percent over 2004. Among which, 171,619 were granted to domestic applicants, showing an increase of 13.4 percent over 2004.