China Patent Filings – Off the Chart!

China’s State Intellectual Property Office – or SIPO – recently reported that in 2007, nearly 700,000 patent applications were filed in China for the year.  This is an astounding amount of patent applications, easily making China the leading jurisdiction for patent filings in 2007.

SIPO also reported that in the specific area of design patents, of the 270,000 filed there, only 5% of these filings were made by non-Chinese companies.  This is slightly amazing, insofar as non-Chinese companies frequently complain about design infringement within China – yet apparently these same companies have done little to protect their designs under Chinese patent law.

Aside from the idea that China is beginning to find a path to technological leadership in the world (at least as measured by the number of filed patents), it’s also worth noting that as China is a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), it is more likely than not that many of these Chinese patent applications will find their way to the USPTO for United States examination.  If the PTO thinks it’s overwhelmed now, just wait…

Further info on patent developments in China may be found at http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=19059&deptid=5.