The China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) has released intellectual property statistics for the first half of 2024. According to the statistics, compared with the same period last year, the grant numbers of China’s invention patents and trademarks increased significantly, but those of the utility models, designs, and integrated circuit layout designs slid dramatically.
In terms of patents, according to the CNIPA’s patent statistics from January to June 2024, the number of invention patent grants increased by 27.97% over the same period last year, from 432,632 last year to 553,649. This is attributed to the significant increase of 30.26% in domestic invention grants. The number of utility model grants fell to 966,514, accounting for only 87.53% of the same period last year. Among them, the numbers of both domestic and foreign grants declined, especially the number of domestic utility model grants dropped from 1,101,424 in the same period last year to 963,975. The number of design grants also fell by 11.35%, from 344,000 last year to 304,954. Although the designs granted by foreign countries increased significantly from 4,806 to 10,580, the designs granted by the CNIPA decreased by 44,820. From the perspective of the type of patent applicants, most of them are service inventions, with corporate inventions accounting for the most, accounting for 74%. Compared with the same period last year, the grant number for patents from colleges and universities declined significantly, with inventions falling from 90,411 last year to 87,287, utility models falling from 32,473 last year to 29,160, and designs falling from 9,106 last year to 6,696. As of 30 June 2024, the numbers of valid Chinese invention, utility model, and design patents have risen to 5,343,829, 11,472,420, and 3,018,678 respectively.
Regarding trademarks, as of 30 June 2024, China has 48,043,693 valid registered trademarks. In the first half of this year, the number of trademark applications exceeded 3.51 million, and the number of valid trademark registrations also exceeded 2.46 million, an increase of 444,681 over the same period last year. Meanwhile, the trademark applications approved for registration in both China and out of China highly increased, with domestic registrations increasing by 427,533, and foreign registrations increasing by 17,148. From January to June this year, the number of opposition filings increased from 53,581 last year to 61,789. In addition, the number of appeal cases also increased by 13.91%, from 188,764 last year to 215,014. Among them, the largest proportion is the appeals for objection and invalidation declaration cases, which are 168,354 and 35,421 respectively.
In terms of integrated circuit layout design, the number of applications in the first half of 2024 was 5,173, and 5,365 were approved for registration. They are decreased compared with the same period last year. However, compared with previous years since 2001, although the numbers for filing and grants from January to June this year did not reach the highest level in 2021, they still maintained the high levels following the past two years.
In summary, the applications and grants for inventions and trademarks in China are still growing. The vast majority of applicants are enterprises, and the vast majority of applications are filed in China. From another perspective, the largest potential market for Chinese intellectual property applications is non-enterprise applications and non-domestic applications.
In terms of patents, according to the CNIPA’s patent statistics from January to June 2024, the number of invention patent grants increased by 27.97% over the same period last year, from 432,632 last year to 553,649. This is attributed to the significant increase of 30.26% in domestic invention grants. The number of utility model grants fell to 966,514, accounting for only 87.53% of the same period last year. Among them, the numbers of both domestic and foreign grants declined, especially the number of domestic utility model grants dropped from 1,101,424 in the same period last year to 963,975. The number of design grants also fell by 11.35%, from 344,000 last year to 304,954. Although the designs granted by foreign countries increased significantly from 4,806 to 10,580, the designs granted by the CNIPA decreased by 44,820. From the perspective of the type of patent applicants, most of them are service inventions, with corporate inventions accounting for the most, accounting for 74%. Compared with the same period last year, the grant number for patents from colleges and universities declined significantly, with inventions falling from 90,411 last year to 87,287, utility models falling from 32,473 last year to 29,160, and designs falling from 9,106 last year to 6,696. As of 30 June 2024, the numbers of valid Chinese invention, utility model, and design patents have risen to 5,343,829, 11,472,420, and 3,018,678 respectively.
Regarding trademarks, as of 30 June 2024, China has 48,043,693 valid registered trademarks. In the first half of this year, the number of trademark applications exceeded 3.51 million, and the number of valid trademark registrations also exceeded 2.46 million, an increase of 444,681 over the same period last year. Meanwhile, the trademark applications approved for registration in both China and out of China highly increased, with domestic registrations increasing by 427,533, and foreign registrations increasing by 17,148. From January to June this year, the number of opposition filings increased from 53,581 last year to 61,789. In addition, the number of appeal cases also increased by 13.91%, from 188,764 last year to 215,014. Among them, the largest proportion is the appeals for objection and invalidation declaration cases, which are 168,354 and 35,421 respectively.
In terms of integrated circuit layout design, the number of applications in the first half of 2024 was 5,173, and 5,365 were approved for registration. They are decreased compared with the same period last year. However, compared with previous years since 2001, although the numbers for filing and grants from January to June this year did not reach the highest level in 2021, they still maintained the high levels following the past two years.
In summary, the applications and grants for inventions and trademarks in China are still growing. The vast majority of applicants are enterprises, and the vast majority of applications are filed in China. From another perspective, the largest potential market for Chinese intellectual property applications is non-enterprise applications and non-domestic applications.