According to the report, China leads the world in the application amounts of patent, trademark, and industrial design, becoming the major powerhouse for international IP development. Innovators around the world have filed about 2.7 million patent applications in 2014, witnessing an annual increase of 4.5%. With a patent application amount of 928.177 thousand, China boasts an amount surpassing those of the second and third putting together (the second being the US with an application amount of 578.802 thousand, and the third being Japan with an application amount of 325.989 thousand). The application amount of trademark has experienced an annual increase of 6%; China tops the world with an annual increase of 18.2%, filing 2.22 million trademark applications; receiving 471.228 thousand and 333.443 thousand trademark applications respectively, the US and the Coordinating Bureau of the EU internal market take the second and the third places. Filing 564.555 thousand industrial designs in 2014, China ranks the first despite an annual decrease of 14.4%, followed by the Coordinating Bureau of the EU internal market and South Korea. The application amount of plant variety protection has witnessed an annual increase of 3.3%; the Bureau of Plant Variety of European Union Community is ranked the first at 3625 applications, with China (2026) and the US (1567) taking the second and third places.

(Source: Xinhua net)