Annual Report of CNIPA (2021): 55.0% Grant Rate of Invention Patents

China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the 2021 annual report in June, 2022. Below are main information and statistical data relating to patents and trademarks

Patent

(1) Patent application

In 2021, a total of 1,586,000, invention patent applications were filed in China, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. Among them, 1,428,000 were domestic invention patent applications, accounting for 90.0% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; 158,000 were foreign invention patent applications accounting for 10.0% of the total number, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%.

In 2021, 2,852,000 utility model patent applications were filed, a year-on-year decrease of 2.5%; 806,000 design patent applications were filed, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%.

In 2021, 73,000 PCT international patent applications were received, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%. Among them, 68,000 were from China, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%.

(2) Patent examination

In 2021, 1,266,000 invention patent applications were concluded. 77,000 requests for prioritized examination were received, including 74,000 invention patent applications, with a year-on-year increase of 31.5%. In the second half of 2021, the average examination pendency of invention patents was shortened to 18.5 months.

※ The examination pendency refers to the duration from the date of receiving the Notification of Entering the Substantive Examination Procedure to the final decision (decision of grant or decision of rejection).

(3) Patent granting

In 2021, 696,000 invention patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 31.3%. Among them, 586,000 were domestic invention patents, accounting for 84.2% of the total; 110,000 were foreign patents in China, a year-on-year increase of 23.0%.

In 2021, 3,120,000 utility model patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 31.2%; 78,600 design patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%.

In 2021, the grant rate of invention patents in China was 55.0%, a remarkable increase compared with 2020.

[Grant rate of invention patents in China (2018-2021)]

※The grant rate of patents is calculated by dividing the number of patents published for grant by the number of concluded patents in the same year.

(4) Patent reexamination and invalidation

In 2021, a total of 76,000 patent reexamination requests were accepted, a year-on-year increase of 39.2%; 54,000 cases were closed, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%. The average time for concluding a reexamination request is 16.4 months. Among the concluded invention patent reexamination cases, 47.2% rejection decisions were revoked (Including interlocutory revocation of rejection and collegial revocation of rejection), and 52.8% were closed by upholding rejection and other methods (Other methods include requests rejected, requests deemed withdrawn, and voluntary withdrawal of the reexamination petitioner ).

In 2021, a total of 7,628 patent invalidation requests were accepted, a year-on-year increase of 23.5 %; 7,065 cases were closed, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%. The average period for closing 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% maintained the patent right( Including cases of maintaining patent right, requests rejected, requests deemed withdrawn, and voluntary withdrawal of the invalidation requester). Of the invalidation cases of utility model patents, 42.0% were completely invalid, 17.8% were partially invalid, and 40.2% maintained the patent right. Among the invalidation cases of design patents, 49.9% were completely invalid, 0.9% were partially invalid, and 49.1% maintained the patent right.

Trademark

(1) Trademark application

In 2021, the CNIPA accepted 9.451 million applications for trademark registration, among which 9.193 million applications were filed by domestic applicants, accounting for 97.3% of the total, up by 0.8% year-on-year, applications for registration from overseas amounted to 258,000, accounting for 2.7% of the total, with a year-on-year increase of 11.6%. Among the full year trademark registration applications, 3.22 million were for service trademark, accounting for 34.1% of the total number, with a year-on-year increase of 7.3%.

In 2021, the CNIPA received 5,928 Madrid trademark international registration applications from Chinese applicants.

[The chart of Chinese trademark application volume (2017-2021)]

(2) Trademark examination

In 2021, the CNIPA examined 10.568 million trademark applications, with a year-on-year increase of 20.3%. The average examination period of trademark registration applications is kept within 4 months, and the period of general cases of registration is reduced to 7 months.

(3) Trademark registration

In the year of 2021, the number of registered trademarks was 7.739 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.3%, among which 7.545 million were registered by domestic applicants, accounting for 97.5% of the total, with a year-on-year increase of 35.3%, 194,000 were registered by overseas applicants, accounting for 2.5% of the total, with a year-on-year increase of 5.2%.

Among the total signed and issued exanimation results of trademark registration applications in 2021, 56.9% were preliminarily approved, 15.2% were partially rejected, and 27.8% were totally rejected.

(4) Trademark opposition

In 2021, the CNIPA received 176,000 trademark opposition applications, with a year-on-year increase of 31.1%. Among them, 172,000 completed formal examination, and the period of formal examination of opposition was reduced to 2.5 months. 164,000 oppositions completed the substantive examination, with a year-on-year increase of 10.1%, and the average time of opposition examination has been reduced to 11 months. Among the completed oppositions in 2021, 38.6% were established, 10.4% were partially established and 51.0% were not established. Malicious registration was effectively prevented in the opposition procedure.

The opposition decisions have been fully published on the Chinese Trademark website. In the year of 2021, 162,000 opposition decisions were published, effectively enhancing the transparency of trademark opposition.

(5) Trademark Review

In 2021, the CNIPA accepted 473,000 applications for various trademark review cases, with a year-on-year increase of 28.8%. Among them, 383,000 were for review of refusal, and 90,000 were complex cases involving two parties. 383,000 review cases were adjudicated, of which 308,000 were refusal reviews, and 74,000 were complex cases involving two parties.

Source: lexology.com

Editor: IPR Daily-Selly