Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying Photo: fmprc.gov.cn

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China has made significant progress relating to intellectual property protection in recent years, as the country insisted on placing scientific and technological innovation at the core of the overall national development while advancing economic growth driven by technology innovations.

Hua's comments came as the latest World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report showed that the number of patent applications received by the China National Intellectual Property Administration reached 1.4 million, ranking first in the world, more than twice the number of patent applications received by the second-ranked US, while the number of global patent applications in 2019 reached 3.22 million, a drop of 3 percent from 2018, the first decline in over 10 years. 

The WIPI report said that in 2019, the number of patent applications in Asia accounted for 65 percent of total global applications, a significant increase compared with 50.9 percent in 2009, with China's applications a major contributing factor.

Hua also pointed out other milestones in reforming China's intellectual property rights protection mechanism.

In 2019, China saw 59,000 applications filed via WIPI's Patent Cooperation Treaty System, ranking first in the world. China submitted 6,339 applications for international trademark registration though the Madrid system, placing China second in the world. China ranks 14th in the 2020 Global Innovation Index and remains the only middle-income economy among the top 30. And the number of artificial intelligence patent applications in 2019 reached 110,000, the highest number among all countries, according to the China Internet Development Report 2020.

China is accelerating intellectual property system reform during the 14th Five-Year Plan period in order to accelerate rapid economic development, said Hua.

As an important force in global scientific and technological innovation and a major source of intellectual property development, China is willing to actively participate in global intellectual property governance, working with partners to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement measures. 

Global Times