On July 10, 2018, China National Intellectual Property Administration held a regular press conference in the third quarter of 2018, releasing important data in the first half of 2018, including China’s patent application, patent authorization and valid patent data, international patent application (PCT) related data, patent enforcement, patent reexamination invalid, and integrated circuit layout design related data; Data on the number of trademark applications and registrations and the progress in shortening the period of trademark registration review; Geographical indication product protection data, etc.
The picture shows the press conference.
[Moderator Hu Wenhui, Director of China National Intellectual Property Administration Office]Good morning, friends from the press! Welcome to China National Intellectual Property Administration’s press conference. This press conference is the third press conference held in China National Intellectual Property Administration this year, and it is also the first time that the Bureau has released the relevant statistical data of patents, trademarks and geographical indications to the society. I would like to thank all media friends for their concern and support for China’s intellectual property cause. Now, I’d like to introduce the leaders who attended today’s conference: Zhang Zhicheng, Director of Protection Coordination Department, Bi Nan, Director of Planning and Development Department, Zheng Huifen, Director of Examination Management Department of Patent Office, Cui Shoudong, Deputy Director of Trademark Office, and Zhao Meisheng, Deputy Director of Patent Management Department. I’m Hu Wenhui, spokesperson and director of the office. Next, we will release the important work statistics and relevant information of China National Intellectual Property Administration in the first half of 2018.
I. Main data
In the first half of 2018, China’s major intellectual property indicators achieved rapid growth, showing a good development momentum. The number of invention patent applications in China is 751,000. There were 217,000 invention patents authorized, including 171,000 domestic invention patents. In the domestic invention patent authorization, there are 159,000 service inventions, accounting for 93.2%; There were 12,000 off-duty inventions, accounting for 6.8%. In the first half of 2018, The top 10 domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) enterprises in China are: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (1,775), China Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (1,569), Guangdong Opal Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. (1,520), State Grid Corporation (1,242), ZTE Corporation (1,028) and BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. Zhuhai Gree Electric Co., Ltd. (787 pieces), Lenovo (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (697 pieces), Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (664 pieces) and China Oil and Gas Co., Ltd. (557 pieces).
By the end of June 2018, the number of invention patents in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) totaled 1.475 million, and the number of invention patents per 10,000 population reached 10.6. The top 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China are: Beijing (102.5), Shanghai (44.5), Jiangsu (24.4), Zhejiang (21.6), Guangdong (20.8), Tianjin (19.6) and Shaanxi (9.6). In the first half of 2018, China National Intellectual Property Administration accepted 23,000 patent applications for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), up 6.3% year-on-year. Among them, 21,600 were from China, up 7.6% year-on-year. In the first half of 2018, there were seven provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) with more than 500 PCT patent applications, followed by Guangdong (10,700), Beijing (2,800), Jiangsu (2,200), Shanghai (1,000), Shandong (800), Zhejiang (800) and Hubei (7,000). In the first half of 2018, the number of patent reexamination requests was 18,400, and the number of closed cases was 15,600. The number of cases requesting invalidation was 2,445, and the number of cases closed was 2,433.
In the first half of 2018, our bureau received 1,993 applications for integrated circuit layout design and 1,636 certificates for integrated circuit layout design. In the first half of 2018, the number of trademark registration applications in China was 3.586 million; 3.065 million trademark reviews were completed. By the end of June 2018, the cumulative number of trademark applications in China was 31.428 million, the cumulative number of registered trademarks was 19.395 million, and the number of valid registered trademarks was 16.807 million, with an average of one valid trademark for every 6.1 market entities; 4,395 collective trademarks and certification trademarks of geographical indications were approved, including 171 from abroad. The review period of trademark registration has been shortened from 8 months to about 7 months. In the first half of 2018, China accepted 10 new applications for the protection of geographical indication products, 46 newly approved products for the protection of geographical indications, and 135 newly approved enterprises for the use of special signs for geographical indication products. By the end of June 2018, a total of 2,359 geographical indication products had been protected, including 2,298 in China and 61 abroad; Accumulated 24 national geographical indication product protection demonstration zones; A total of 8,091 enterprises using special signs have been approved, and the relevant output value exceeds 1 trillion yuan. In the first half of 2018, the total number of patent administrative law enforcement cases nationwide was 19,900. Among them, 12,400 cases of patent disputes were handled (including 12,100 cases of patent infringement disputes) and 7,541 cases of counterfeit patents were investigated.
Second, the main features
First, the level of creation and application of intellectual property rights in China has progressed steadily. In the first half of 2018, the number of domestic invention patents granted and owned in China increased steadily, increasing by 6.5% and 19.5% respectively compared with the same period of last year; The number of invention patents per 10,000 population increased by 0.8 compared with the end of 2017. The proportion of invention patents authorized and owned in China has steadily increased, reaching 78.8% and 69.0% respectively. The level of trademark registration facilitation has been continuously improved. By the end of June 2018, six trademark examination cooperation centers and 123 trademark acceptance windows had been established nationwide; In the first half of 2018, the number of trademark registration applications increased by 57.5% year-on-year. Second, the dominant position of domestic enterprises in innovation continues to be consolidated. In the first half of 2018, enterprises accounted for 63.8% and 67.2% of the domestic invention patents granted and owned, respectively, up by 3.1 and 1.0 percentage points over the same period of last year; The contribution rate of enterprises to the growth of domestic invention patent applications in China reached 66.9%. The maintenance rate of effective invention patents of domestic enterprises for more than five years reached 71.2%, an increase of 3.9 percentage points over the end of last year.
Third, the overseas intellectual property applications of Chinese enterprises have steadily increased. In the first half of 2018, 17 domestic enterprises submitted more than 100 PCT international patent applications, which was the same as the same period of last year. Among them, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. all exceeded 1,000 pieces. From January to May 2018, there were 2,228 applications for international registration of Madrid trademarks in China, up 80.69% year-on-year, ranking third in Madrid Union. Fourth, China’s intellectual property protection environment has been further optimized. In the first half of 2018, the total number of patent administrative law enforcement cases nationwide increased by 29.5% year-on-year, of which the number of patent disputes increased by 41.0% year-on-year, and the number of counterfeit patent cases increased by 14.1% year-on-year. Investigated and dealt with 13,600 trademark violation cases, with a case value exceeding 210 million yuan. China has further shaped a good business environment and innovation environment.
The above is the important work statistics and relevant information of our bureau in the first half of 2018. Next, please ask reporters to ask questions on related issues, and please inform your media when you ask questions.
[Guangming Daily reporter]What I want to ask is, in the data just released, the number of invention patents in China in the first half of this year has accounted for 70%. Does this mean that the quality and quantity of invention patents in China have been greatly improved? In addition, everyone has paid more attention to the quality of our domestic invention patents recently. Please introduce our practice in improving the quality of patents.
[Hu Wenhui]The question you asked is very good. In terms of the division of functions, the statistics of this piece of data are in the Planning Department. Please ask Director Bi to answer the previous questions first.
[Bi Nan, Director of Planning and Development Department of China National Intellectual Property Administration]Thank you for your question. As you mentioned, by the end of June this year, China’s domestic invention patents accounted for nearly 70%. Our statistics also show that among the 35 technical fields classified by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the number of domestic invention patents is higher than that of foreign invention patents in 32 fields, and there is a gap with foreign countries only in optics, medical technology and engine turbines. In terms of quantity, the advantages of domestic invention patents are obvious.
But this advantage in quantity does not mean that it also has an advantage in quality. From a statistical point of view, among all the valid invention patents, among the 35 fields mentioned just now, the number of 28 technical fields is less than that of foreign countries, especially in the six fields of optics, electrical and mechanical devices, audio-visual technology, medical technology, transportation and computer technology. The gap between China and foreign countries is obvious, including chip technology. Therefore, we should clearly see that China still has shortcomings in the core technology field, and we need to strive to improve the quality of patents, continuously strengthen the layout of high-quality core patents in key technology fields, continue to strengthen the protection and application of patents in key technology fields, and make up for the shortcomings of patents in core technology fields in the process of high-quality development. This is the first half of my answer to your question. Thank you.
[Hu Wenhui]The quality of patent examination is mainly the responsibility of Minister Zheng of the examination business department. Please answer him.
[Zheng Huifen, Director of Examination Business Management Department of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office]Regarding the improvement of patent quality, we have been implementing the patent quality improvement project since 2016. This project includes the whole chain of patent creation, application, agency, examination, protection and application, and the quality improvement of all links. In short, it is divided into four sub-projects. One is about creation, and we think creation is the source.
The second is application and agency, which is also very important. It involves the quality of application documents and the scope of protection.
The third aspect is the review aspect, which we are actually mainly responsible for. It is the key to improve the quality of patent examination to properly authorize patent examination, avoid improper authorization and provide the public with patent rights with clear and appropriate protection scope and stable and predictable rights.
The fourth aspect is the follow-up protection and application.
It has been almost two years since the implementation of the patent quality improvement project in 2016, and we think the society should also be able to see the actual effect of quality improvement. Last year, we conducted a third-party social satisfaction survey on censorship, and 70% of the respondents said that they had felt the improvement in quality, especially in censorship, such as the results of retrieval, and now the quality is also improving. We will continue to increase our efforts in this regard in the future. Thank you for your question.
[Reporter of China Intellectual Property News]I want to ask Director Zhang a question about geographical indications. Geographical indications are an important part in the field of intellectual property rights, and this year is a new function of overall work. I would like to ask how the re-established China National Intellectual Property Administration will carry out the protection of geographical indications in the future.
[Zhang Zhicheng, Director of Protection and Coordination Department of China National Intellectual Property Administration]Thank you for your question. Geographical indications are one of the important types of intellectual property rights. Strengthening the protection of geographical indications is of great significance for improving the quality and market competitiveness of protected products, increasing the added value of products and farmers’ income, safeguarding consumers’ rights and interests, promoting local economic development and protecting traditional cultural heritage.
In March this year, a meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress of China voted and passed the "Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council". According to the requirements of the plan, the re-established China National Intellectual Property Administration was responsible for the protection of geographical indications, which laid the institutional and institutional foundation for the effective protection of geographical indication products. Just now, the spokesman introduced the data and achievements of the protection of geographical indication products in China. Your question is mainly about the next step. In the next step, we will focus on strengthening the protection system of geographical indication products, continue to strengthen the protection of geographical indication products, continue to promote international mutual recognition and mutual protection of geographical indication products, strengthen the work of poverty alleviation in the protection of geographical indication products, and further promote the "streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation and improve services" work in the protection of geographical indication products. This is our initial consideration.
[Reporter of Xiaokang Magazine]I would like to ask the host a question about a recently released film called Dying to Survive, which has been released for just one week. Now the box office has exceeded 1.5 billion, and a hot spot of people’s livelihood-patented drugs and generic drugs have been pushed to the forefront again. What is the current situation of drug patent protection in China? Are there any relevant policies in the future that can guarantee universal medical care to the maximum extent, so that ordinary people can be cured and escorted?
[Hu Wenhui]This is a very good question. Dying to Survive’s movie, which may have been seen by many comrades present here, happened to be seen by me just a few days ago. It was really touching. It seems that I didn’t mention the issue of patents from the film, but I believe that the intellectual property owners, especially our comrades engaged in intellectual property work, may all realize that this film involves the issue of patented drugs, which is of concern to everyone.
This is how I look at this problem. First of all, from the international practice of intellectual property rights, the protection of drugs has always been an international problem, mainly to balance the interests between drug-related enterprises and the public. Internationally, some countries will introduce some patent compensation period systems to extend the protection period of drug patents, but at the same time, they will also introduce some restrictive measures, such as compulsory licensing of patents and other systems, which will form a balance between the two systems.
From the perspective of public interest, if our pharmaceutical companies do not have the motivation to develop new and effective drugs as soon as possible, it will actually be a great harm to the public interest. On the other hand, if the price of drugs developed is too high for the public to use, it is also a great harm to the public interest. So there must be a balance between these two aspects.
As far as our country is concerned, since the implementation of the patent law in 1985, we have been making a balanced consideration in this regard. On the one hand, we have had strict patent protection for drugs since 1985, and at the same time, we have always had the relevant system of compulsory patent licensing, and we have been constantly improving the relevant system in the process of amending the previous patent law. At present, the fourth revision of the patent law is under way. Because the plan has not yet been announced, it is not convenient to tell you the details of the revision here. Friends from the media are also welcome to continue to pay attention to the revision of the patent law, and then we will work together to achieve the goal you just mentioned, so that ordinary people can have good medicine and can afford it.
That’s all I have to answer.
[Reporter of Legal Daily]My question is for Director Zhao. Intellectual property protection has always been a hot topic of social concern. What special work did China National Intellectual Property Administration do in this area in the first half of this year?
[Zhao Meisheng, Deputy Director of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Management Department]Thank you for your question. In the first half of the year, we mainly took the following measures to improve the effectiveness of cracking down on infringement and counterfeiting: First, we further strengthened law enforcement and handling cases. We will further promote the "Thunder" special action of intellectual property law enforcement and rights protection, and organize centralized inspections and centralized rectification for key areas and key links.
The second is to continuously improve the quality of law enforcement cases. Complete the selection of ten typical cases of patent administrative law enforcement in 2017, and organize the evaluation of patent law enforcement files in 2017.
The third is to continuously improve the law enforcement cooperation mechanism. In-depth promotion of cross-regional intellectual property law enforcement cooperation such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Economic Belt and "Belt and Road".
The fourth is to accelerate the construction of protection centers. To study and draft the Guidelines for the Construction and Operation of Intellectual Property Protection Centers to provide normative guidance for the construction and operation of intellectual property protection centers. Up to now, 19 intellectual property protection centers have been approved.
Fifth, actively promote the construction of social credit system. Solidly promote the construction of part of the Intellectual Property Office of the National Credit Information Sharing Platform Project (Phase II) and actively promote the establishment of a joint disciplinary mechanism.
[Reporter from China Business News]I’d like to put this question to Director Cui Shoudong and Minister Zheng, which is about the review cycle. We know that on June 28th, Premier Li Keqiang delivered a very important speech at the national teleconference on deepening the "streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation and improve services" reform and transforming government functions, in which he mentioned that the time for trademark registration examination should be reduced to less than four months within five years, the examination period of invention patents should be reduced by one third, and the examination period of high-value patents should be reduced by half. We are all very concerned about what measures China National Intellectual Property Administration will take to implement this goal and task?
[Cui Shoudong, Deputy Director of China National Intellectual Property Administration Trademark Office (director level)]Thanks to the reporter of the industrial and commercial news, I feel very cordial. The issue of shortening the trademark review cycle should be said to be an old topic. It is not the first time that the Prime Minister has proposed shortening the trademark review cycle. In the government work reports of the two sessions this year, the Prime Minister specifically mentioned shortening the trademark review cycle significantly.
Trademark review has attracted the attention of the whole society at present, and the CPC Central Committee and the State Council also attach great importance to it. The Trademark Office has been paying close attention to trademark review and has done a lot of hard work for many years. Especially in recent years, we have carried out a series of reforms in shortening the period of trademark examination. At present, we are also facing a contradiction. On the one hand, the number of trademark applications has increased rapidly. Far from it, the number of trademark applications in 2014 was 2.28 million, in 2015 it was 2.87 million, in 2016 it reached 3.69 million, and in 2017 it reached 5.74 million. From the first half of this year to June, it has reached 3.58 million, which is the highest in history, with more than 759,000 a month. Yesterday, the Trademark Office held an analysis meeting on trademark reform in the first half of the year. It is estimated that the number of trademark applications will exceed 8 million this year. On the other hand, with the rapid increase of market players, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the people demand that the trademark review cycle be shortened.
In this case, the Trademark Office has taken many measures, especially in 2016 and 2017, which successively introduced a series of measures to facilitate the reform of trademark registration, greatly shortening the review period of trademark registration. On March 20, 2018, the former General Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the "Three-year Plan for the Reform of Trademark Registration Facilitation", and the Prime Minister also gave instructions on our work, affirming our measures of self-pressure and optimizing the business environment. The new Trademark Law stipulates that the examination period of trademark registration is 9 months, which was shortened to 8 months at the end of last year, 7 months and 2 days in the first half of this year, 6 months at the end of this year, 5 months next year, and 4 months in 2020. This is the main task of the three-year plan, and the examination period including the follow-up procedures of trademark registration will be shortened accordingly.
Therefore, we have taken a series of measures to shorten the review cycle, mainly including: further optimizing the process, especially using information technology in the trademark review system; To establish a review cooperation center outside Beijing, Zhengzhou and Jinan will be added this year, so that we have six review cooperation centers. The Trademark Office insists on relying on reform, technology and system. We are confident to do a good job in reform and fulfill the requirements put forward by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. Thank you for your question!
[Zheng Huifen]Thank you for your question. In fact, the problems we encountered are very similar to those encountered by the Trademark Office just now.
As the spokesman said just now, the number of applications for invention patents in the first half of this year was 751,000. As we all know, the number of applications last year was 1.382 million. That is to say, in recent years, the growth rate of invention patent applications in China has actually been very high, so in this case, the examination period of invention patents is 22 months. In order to implement the State Council’s important decision to reduce the examination period of invention patents, we will work from several aspects in the next step.
One is to further strengthen the construction of the examiner team, and strive to build a team of examiners with strong ability and high quality to provide a strong talent guarantee for the examination work.
Secondly, according to the principle of quality first and benefit first, we should innovate the mechanism mode of work, optimize the examination management process, strengthen the fine allocation of human resources and examination case sources, and earnestly demand efficiency from management.
The third aspect is that we should continue to promote information construction, increase the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data in the review work, and strive to promote the efficiency change and quality change of the review work.
The fourth aspect is that we actively strengthen communication and coordination with relevant departments, and actively strive for the support and cooperation of all sectors of society, including applicants, because the review work is not only the review, but also the cooperation of applicants, and we must do a solid job in ensuring all conditions.
At present, I hope that through the work in these aspects, we can finally reduce the examination period of invention patents by one third and the examination period of high value by half within five years.
I hope my answer will satisfy you.
[Hu Wenhui]Because of time, today’s press conference is here. Thank you again for your understanding and support. Thank you!
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