According to statistical data analysis, the characteristics of China's intellectual property agency industry are as follows:

In 2022, 645 new patent agencies were established nationwide, and 5 foreign patent agencies were approved to establish resident representative offices. As of the end of 2022, there were 4,520 patent agencies (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), 63,311 patent attorneys, 31,347 practicing patent attorneys, and 4,405 litigation representatives. A total of 51,511 applicants signed for the 2022 patent attorney qualification examination and the number of passers is 6,775.

Trademark agency order has got more and more standardized. By the end of 2022, there were 71,466 trademark agencies registered. From January to March 2023, trademark agencies were organized to re-file, a total of 16,921 agencies passing the re-filing review, meanwhile, 1,175 agencies have been newly refiled during this period. At present, there are a total of 18,096 registered trademark agencies in China, all of which have signed a letter of commitment for employment in a trademark agency. The re-filing work has laid a solid foundation for further optimizing the trademark agency market environment.

In 2022, CNIPA continued to crack down on illegal and irregular agency behaviors. During the whole year, 1,489 agencies were interviewed, 923 agencies were ordered to rectify, and 238 administrative penalties were imposed, so as to improve the supervisory system and further enhance the industry's supervisory effectiveness.

From CNIPA

May 11th, 2023