The recent Chinese patent surge is being led by domestic patent applications, those which originated in China. The number of total patent applications filed in China grew 16.7% annually from 2006 to 2010, nearly doubling to 314,000. In 2010, 73% of China’s patent applications were domestic, compared with 52% in 2006. The global share of domestic pharmaceutical patent applications increased from 29% in 2006 to 39% in 2010. More than 50% of global pharmaceutical patent applications in 2010 originated in China. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2010 report, Patent Cooperation Treaty documents filed by China grew the fastest in the world, rising from 2,512 filings in 2005 to 7,906 in 2009. A goal of the recent Chinese National Patent Development Strategy is to file two million patent applications each year by 2015. Under the 12th Five-Year Plan, China also hopes to increase the number of patents held per 10,000 people from 1.7 in 2010 to 3.3 in 2015.

Source: Thomson Reuters