According to the latest statistics released by the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), China’s invention patent grants increased by 5.2% year-on-year in the first five months of 2023, while utility model patent grants decreased by 27.28% and design patent grants decreased by 12%.

Patents

From January to May 2023, China granted 339,000 invention patents, 924,000 utility model patents and 296,000 design patents.

By the end of May 2023, China had 4.485 million valid invention patents. Among them, 3.534 million were domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) invention patents. The valid utility model patents amounted to 11.308 million and the valid design patents amounted to 2.968 million.

From January to May 2023, NIPA received 27,700 PCT international patent applications. Among them, 25,600 were submitted by domestic applicants.

From January to April 2023, Chinese applicants submitted a total of 613 international applications for design patents[1]. From January to May 2023, a total of 509[2] international applications for design patents that designated China were published.

Trademarks

From January to May 2023, China received 2.77 million trademark applications and registered 1.679 million trademarks. By the end of May, there were 43.963 million valid registered trademarks.

From January to May 2023, NIPA received 2,338 Madrid trademark international registration applications from Chinese applicants.

Geographical indications and integrated circuit layout designs

From January to May 2023, China approved two geographical indication products for protection, approved 76 geographical indications as collective trademarks or certification trademarks, and approved 2,650 market entities to use the geographical indication special signs. By the end of May, China had approved a total of 2,497 geographical indication products for protection, approved a total of 7,152 geographical indications as collective trademarks or certification trademarks, and approved 26,134 market entities to use the geographical indication special signs.

From January to May 2023, China received 4,213 applications for integrated circuit layout design registration and issued 4,090 certificates.