Based on data recently released by China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), invention patent grants and utility model patent grants have continued their downward trend with cumulative drops of 16.56% and 25.92% in the first three quarters of 2025 year-on-year. In the first nine months or 2025, invention patent grants dropped to 682,120 grants, a decrease of 135,360 grants. Utility model patent grants dropped to 1,118,935, a decrease of 391,442 grants.
53,412 invention patent grants were of foreign origin although this may overcount as this statistic may include round trip investments via the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands (e.g., Alibaba, despite being headquartered in Hangzhou, China, often files in the name its Cayman entity). Only 3,402 of the 1,118,935 utility model grants were foreign-originated.
Design patent grants was the only category that showed an increase with a 3.86% rise to 479,965 design patent grants.
The full dataset released by CNIPA is available here (Chinese only). A comparison dataset for 2024 Q3 is available here (Chinese only).
