In 2006 China approved 58,000 patents with more than half being
granted to foreigners, the State Intellectual Property Offices
(SIPO) said Tuesday.
Applicants from overseas filed 33,000 -- 56.6 percent of all
patents -- said SIPO spokesman Yin Xintian. The rise in overseas
applications displayed that China's markets were getting attention
from other countries since entry to the World Trade Organization,
added Yin.
SIPO director, Tian Lipu, said although China had granted a
large number of intellectual property rights (IPR) the country's
domestic IPR competitiveness and innovative skills were still far
behind those of developed countries. In fact around 99 percent of
Chinese companies never applied for patents, said Tian.
Research and development investment of large and medium-sized
Chinese corporations accounted on average for 0.71 percent of their
annual turnover, Tian explained. This was much lower than the
average?5 percent figure of developed countries.
"Domestic companies should strengthen their IPR awareness,
continue to improve their innovative capacities and be active in
patent applications both at home and abroad," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)