Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the annual report of World Intellectual Property Index. The report showed that in 2020, there has been a rebound in the number of global intellectual property applications, which restored growth trend. Hereinto, the CNIPA took the lead with 1.5 million patent applications. In 2020, global valid patents increased by 5.9%, and the number of valid patents owned by China reached 3.1 million, achieving the fastest growth.

It is indicated in the report that, in 2020, there were about 13.4 million trademark applications worldwide, an increase for the 11th consecutive year. China ranked first in the world with around 9.3 million trademark registration applications. It is believed in the report that during the COVID-19 epidemic, global trademark application activities have increased remarkably with some new products and services emerging due to the pandemic.

In the aspect of industrial designs, it is pointed out in the report that, in 2020, there about 1.1 million industrial design applications been filed globally, including 1.4 million designs, an increase of 2% year-on-year. In 2020, the applications accepted by CNIPA contained 770,362 designs, accounting for 55.5% of the world’s total amount.

Data from 92 national and regional offices showed that there were approximate 58,800 protected and effective geographical indications in 2020. Hereinto, Germany reported 14,394 valid geographical indications, followed by China, with 8,476 valid geographical indications.

The annual report data of the "World Intellectual Property Index" once again forcefully manifested to the world that China's intellectual property industry has entered a stage of high-quality development, and it has been transforming from a large country in the introduction of intellectual property to a large country of creation, the transformation of intellectual property work from the pursuit of quantity to the improvement of quality has been accelerated in an all-round way. Such development like above mentioned has also been unanimously affirmed by all walks of life around the world.

From China Intellectual Property News

November 10th, 2021