Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the annual report of World Intellectual Property Indicators. The report showed that several intellectual property (IP) applications worldwide rebounded and returned to growth in 2020. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) ranked first in the number of patent applications up to 1.5 million. Patents in force worldwide grew by 5.9% in 2020, and China saw the fastest growth, reaching 3.1 million. According to the report, nearly 13.4 million trademark applications were filed worldwide in 2020, marking an eleventh successive year of growth. China took the lead in the number of trademark applications with approximately 9.3 million.

In terms of industrial designs, about 1.1 million industrial design applications containing 1.4 million designs were filed worldwide in 2020, representing a 2% year-on-year increase, according to the report. The applications filed with the CNIPA in 2020 included 770,362 designs, accounting for 55.5% of the world's total.

There were about 58,800 protected geographical indications (GIs) in force in 2020 based on the data from 92 national and regional offices. Among them, Germany reported 14,394 valid GIs, followed by China with 8,476 valid GIs.

China's intellectual property right (IPR) industry has entered a stage of high-quality development, and China itself is transforming from a big IPR importer to a big innovator, and its IP work is rapidly shifting from the pursuit of quantity to the improvement of quality.

(Source: Official WeChat Account of China Intellectual Property News)