At a press conference earlier this month, a spokesperson for the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), announced that the number of Chinese invention patent applications filed in the first half of 2019 decreased by 9.4% year on year. Still, that amounted to 649,000 applications in half a year, which is more than the number of annual U.S. patent application filings. Chinese Trademark applications were also down.
However, despite the overall decrease in patent filings, the number of foreign-originated Chinese patent applications increased 8.6% year on year with an even larger increase in trademark filings.
The official explanation for the decrease is that CNIPA is now pursuing quality over quantity in their intellectual property. In order to achieve this goal, in the first half of the year CNIPA has cracked down on “irregular” patent applications as well increased supervision of patent firms and patent attorneys.
However, no mention was made of the earlier elimination of cash subsidies for patent filings nor perhaps a slowing economy due to the trade wars.
