IP activities in China have been increasing for several years now (here is an article on the topic by IPWatchdog).
In an attempt to shed some light on to the matter — and possibly derive valuable insights — we have collected and analyzed data from various sources (Patentcloud — our cloud-based IP intelligence platform — CNIPA, NCAC, and NIPSO) to offer a snapshot of the current situation.
The result is a series of infographics that cover the three main areas of IP protection:
- Application trends
- Litigation cases
- Patent transactions
Download the full report to access the complete set of infographics by filling in the form here.
Key Takeaways
Application Trends
- Most resident applications were filed for utility models.
- Most non-resident applications were filed for utility patents.
- Copyright registrations for computer software increased substantially (+48%), in particular in the AI (+104%), apps (+76%), and big data (+64%) sectors.
- Trademark registrations boomed over the last few years; the recent amendments to Trademark Laws, however, might have had an impact on the trend.
Utility models are a form of IP protection, they’re similar to patents but generally less expensive to obtain and maintain, with shorter terms and grant lags, and less stringent patentability requirements.
Litigation Cases
- The majority of litigation cases (69%) involved copyright protection.
- Only a relatively small percentage (5%) of cases were still underway at the end of the year.
- Most of the instituted cases (85%) were civil cases.
Patent Transactions
- Patent transfers amounted to 85% of all transaction activities, while pledges amounted to around 12%.
- Inventions consistently amounted to around 60% of all transfer activities, while utility models amounted to around 30% between 2010 and 2018.
- Utility models consistently amounted to around 60% of all pledging activities, while inventions amounted to around 30% between 2010 and 2018.
REMARKS: 1) Patent transfers include internal transfers between affiliates; 2) If a patent has multiple records (e.g. multiple transfers) within the same year, it will only be counted once in the statistics; 3) The registration of licensing contracts is not mandatory under Chinese law. Therefore, the CNIPA’s licensing database is only likely to reflect a subset of the licenses. As a result, only the records that have been registered at the CNIPA have been included in the statistics.
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