In recent years, China has seen rapid growth of patent applications, as well as continual improvement on patent examination and intellectual property protection.
Patent Examination Enhanced
In 2022, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) granted a total of 798,000 invention patents and received 74,000 PCT applications[1]. To deal with the rapidly increasing patent applications, CNIPA has established seven Patent Examination Cooperation Centers, respectively in:
1. Beijing;
2. Tianjin;
3. Suzhou;
4. Zhengzhou;
5. Guangzhou;
6. Chengdu and;
7. Wuhan.
The seven Patent Examination Cooperation Centers have taken over the responsibilities of examination of patent applications, while the CNIPA headquarter focuses on patent reexamination and invalidation cases. Read more