On June 1, 2022, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released its 2021 Annual Report (2021年度报告). Highlights of the report include invention patent applications have increased 5.9% year-on-year to 1.586 million; utility model patent application filings decreased 2.5% to 2.852 million; design applications increased 4.6% to 806,000. China’s invention authorization rate was 55% in 2021.
In 2021, the number of invention patent applications in China were 1.586 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. Among them, there were 1.428 million domestic invention patent applications, accounting for 90.0% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; foreign-originated invention patent applications in China were 158,000, accounting for 10.0% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%.
In 2021, 696,000 invention patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 31.3%. Among them, 586,000 domestic invention patents were granted, accounting for 84.2% of the total; 110,000 foreign-originated invention patents were granted in China, a year-on-year increase of 23.0%.
In 2021, 3.12 million utility model patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 31.2%; 786,000 design patents will be authorized, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%.
In 2021, 107,000 PCT international applications entering the Chinese national phase were received, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%, including 106,000 invention patent applications and 916 utility model patent applications. Since 1994, China has received a total of 1.419 million PCT international applications entering the Chinese national phase.
In 2021, a total of 7,628 requests for patent invalidation were accepted, a year-on-year increase of 23.5%; 7,065 cases were concluded, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%. The average period for concluding a patent invalidation request is 5.8 months. In the concluded invalidation cases of invention patents, 24.7% were completely invalid, 15.0% were partially invalid, and 60.4% were valid. Among the concluded utility model patent invalidation cases, 42.0% were completely invalid, 17.8% were partially invalid, and 40.2% valid. Among designs, final cases of invalidation of the design patent, 49.9% were invalid, 0.9% were partially invalid and 49.1% were valid.
In 2021, the number of trademark applications in China reached 9.451 million, including 9.193 million domestic trademark applications, accounting for 97.3% of the total, a year-on- year increase of 0.8%; foreign-originated trademark applications in China reached 258,000, accounting for 2.7% of the total, a year-on-year increase 11.6%
In 2021, the number of trademark registrations reached 7.739 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.3%. Among them, 7.545 million domestic trademarks were registered, accounting for 97.5% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 35.3%; 194,000 foreign-originated trademarks were registered in China, accounting for 2.5% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%.
The top 3 Chinese invention patent grantees were Huawei (7,629 invention patents), Tencent (4,537) and Oppo (4,204). The top 3 foreign invention patent grantees were Samsung (2,293 invention patents), Toyota (1,425) and Qualcomm (1,389).
The full text of the report is available here: 2021年度报告 (Chinese only).
