China's intellectual property exports up 17.7% year-on-year in first five months: CNIPA

From January to May this year, China's total import and export of intellectual properties amounted to 180 billion yuan ($24.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 14.1 percent. Exports of intellectual property rights (IPRs) rose 17.7 percent compared to the previous year, higher than the growth rate of imports by 4.7 percentage points, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) said on Monday.

The CNIPA noted that IPRs are a strategic resource for national development and a core element of international competitiveness. In recent years, more high-value IPRs have been emerging in China.

As of June this year, the effective volume of China's domestic invention patents has reached 4.425 million pieces, and the proportion of invention patents whose right holders are enterprises has increased to 72.8 percent, with enterprises becoming more active innovators, according to the administration.

The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people reached 12.9, realizing the expected goal outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) ahead of schedule. The number of valid domestic registered trademarks reached 45.91 million, which is a new record high.

In terms of utilization, intellectual property has effectively empowered economic innovation and development. In the first half of this year, the number of patent transfer licenses by universities and research institutions increased by 22.2 percent year-on-year.

The value added of patent-intensive industries reached 15.3 trillion yuan, with the share of the annual GDP increasing to 12.7 percent.

Moreover, the number of foreign IPR applications and authorizations and validity in China, have all increased rapidly. 

As of June this year, the number of valid foreign invention patents reached 919,000, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent, and the number of valid registered trademarks in China totaled 2.13 million, up 3.8 percent. 

Data revealed that foreign enterprises attach great importance to the Chinese market and have full confidence in the country's intellectual property protection framework, according to the administration.

The CNIPA said that it will continue to improve the level of intellectual property protection, deepen international cooperation on intellectual property and follow the high-standard international economic and trade rules, in a bid to allow foreign-funded enterprises to better share the dividends of China's development and its mega market.