The number of patent filing from multinational companies operating in China had dramatically increased last year as the country steps up its efforts to protect intellectual property rights. According to the country's National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), companies from the United States, Japan, and Germany are at the top of the list for most patents filed in 2019.
In its latest report, the agency revealed that companies from 186 countries and regions had applied for patents and trademarks last year. This represented a relatively significant increase from the number of patents filed in the previous year.
Companies from the United States, Japan, and Germany filed more than 100,000 applications last year. Japanese firms filed the most applications with over 49,000, followed by the United States with 39,000, and finally Germany with 16,000 filings. The filings last year represented a 5.3 percent year-on-year increase for the United States and 21.3 percent for Japan. The largest growth for patents filed was made by UK companies with a massive 42.4 percent year-on-year increase.
Overall intellectual property filings, including invention patent applications, in China by foreign firms reached a total of 157,000 last year. This represented a 6 percent increase when compared to 2018.
Analysts have pointed out that the increase in the number of intellectual-property applications is a clear sign of the growing confidence of foreign firms in the Chinese market and the country's ability to protect their intellectual property rights. The NIPA had mentioned that it attributes the progress made in protecting foreign intellectual property rights to the continued roll-out of strong legislation and the country's tougher response to those who break the new rules.
Last year, the Chinese government rolled out a series of new laws and regulations aimed at protecting intellectual property rights. This included the imposition of the new Foreign Investment Law, which was enacted to improve the country's business environment for foreign players.
Apart from protecting foreign intellectual property rights, China has also accelerated its efforts to curb unfair practices such as trademark hoarding. The NIPA had launched a new online patent quality monitoring system than automatically detected abnormal patent applications. Last year, the system was able to detect and reject more than 39,000 abnormal trademark applications.
The agency has also taken the necessary steps to reduce processing times and costs for patent applications. So far, the NIPA has approved the establishment of 26 application centers across the country aimed at increasing convenience and reducing bureaucracy. According to the agency, the new processing centers should reduce the time needed for trademark applications to just within four months.
