On June 5, 2023, the CNIPA released its annual report for 2022. Among others, the report includes statistics of IP filings and examination performance. According to the report, a total of 798,000 patents were granted and 6,177,000 trademarks were registered throughout the entire year of 2022. The pendency of invention patent examination has been successfully down to 16.5 months, whereas the same pendency for high-value patents was only 13.0 months. The pendency for examining an application for trademark registration was about 4 months. By the end of 2022, China has more than 4,212,000 valid invention patents, 42,672,000 valid trademark registrations, and 61,000 registrations of IC layout designs. In 2022, cases reported as abnormal patent filings amounted to 955,000. 372,100 malicious trademark registrations were identified. Other notable statistical figures are as follows.

 

  Patent Grants and Applications

 

  The number of invention patent applications was 1,619,000 (a yearly difference of +2.1%), whereas 155,000 applications were filed by international applicants, accounting for 9.6% (a yearly difference of -2.0%);

 

  The number of utility model applications was 2,951,000 (a yearly difference of +3.5%);

 

  The number of design applications was 795,000 (a yearly difference of -1.4%);

 

  The accuracy rate of invention patent examination was 93.4%;

 

  The number of invention patents granted was 798,000 (a yearly difference of significant +14.7%), whereas 102,000 of them were granted to international applicants, which was 12.9% of all;

 

  The number of utility models granted was 2,804,000 (a yearly difference of significant -10.1%);

 

  The number of designs granted was 721,000 (a yearly difference of -8.2%);

 

  The number of invention patents owned by international assignees was 861,000, accounting for 20.4% in the total valid and granted patents; and

 

  The number of high-value patents granted to every 10,000 population was 9.4 (a yearly difference of +1.9%).

 

  Top 10 patent assignees by patent grants and Top 10 provinces by number of PCT applications filed are shown as follows. The former is indicative of active filers in the China market whereas the latter may be suggestive of the innovative capacities according to different regions in the country.

     

  Patent Reexamination and Invalidation

 

  The number of requests for reexamination was 105,000 (a yearly difference of significant +38.1%), where 92% of the requests were made due to rejections as a result of examination;

 

  The number of decisions made for reexamination was 63,000 (a yearly difference of significant +16.1%), and in 48.8% of which the examiner’s rejection was withdrawn;

 

  The pendency of reexamination proceeding in average was 17.2 months;

 

  The number of requests for invalidation was 7,095 (a yearly difference of -7.0%);

 

  The number of decisions made for invalidation was 7,879 (a yearly difference of +11.5%) with a breakdown percentage according to the conclusion of the decisions:

  

	All Invalid	Partial Invalid	Valid or otherwise case dismissed
Invention patent	27.9%	15.4%	56.7%
utility model	41.4%	18.7%	39.9%
Design	53.8%	1.4%	44.8%

 

  The pendency of invalidation proceeding in average was 5.7 months;

 

  Trademarks Applications, Oppositions, and Reviews

 

  The number of trademark registration applications was 7,516,000 (a yearly difference of significant -20.5%), whereas 212,000 applications were filed by international applicants, accounting for 2.8% (a yearly difference of -17.8%);

 

  The pendency for trademark examination was about 4 months and the pendency from filing to registration complete was about 7 months;

 

  The top 10 destinations of applications through Madrid System was US, RU, JP, BR, ID, KR, TH, MY, VN, and EU;

 

  The number of requests for trademark opposition was 146,000 (a yearly difference of -17.2%);

 

  The pendency of trademark opposition in average was 11 months;

 

  The number of decision for trademark reviews was 412,000 (a yearly difference of +7.5%) with a breakdown percentage according to the conclusion of the decisions:

  

	All non-registrable	Partial non-registrable	Registrable or valid
Rejection review	65.8%	10.9%	23.3%
Invalidation	62.1%	12.9%	25.0%
Cancellation review	49.0%	33.8%	17.2%
Opposition review	67.9%	21.1%	11.0%

 

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