CHINA / PATENTS / ANALYSIS OF FILINGS

China Patents and Trademarks, Vol 63 No 4, October 2000

Concentration of Applications for Invention Patents and its Analysis

Wu Xiaoming

This article analyses the applications for patents received by the China Patent Office. The total number increased from 8,558 in 1985 to 14,409 in 1992 and then to 35,960 in 1998. A further increase was expected in 1999; but, as a result of the financial crisis in South East Asia, filings leveled out. The analysis of these figures is based on the International Patent Classification (IPC): for the total number of filings between 1985 and 1999 (that is, some 276,000), the top 20 groups, according to the IPC classification, are identified. Heading the list are what the author calls the life sciences. Chinese herbal medicine, foodstuffs and beverages and pharmaceuticals. These are followed closely by inputting schemes, mobile communication, radio transmission and television units, each of which is considered by the author to be a branch of information sciences. As to the analysis of the applications by origin, domestic filings account for more than 90% in three of the groups: Chinese herbal medicine, foodstuffs and non-alcoholic beverages. But, at the other end of the scale, foreign filings account for more than 90% in the fields of mobile communication, optical recording and radio transmission. The author goes on to analyse the figures for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications and concludes that some groups of companies, particularly in the communication and electronic fields, are not quite "pro-PCT", while others, particularly in the chemical, pharmaceutical and biological fields, are "pro-PCT". The great majority of the PCT applications are from the United States, followed by Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. The author concludes by offering his predictions for future trends in patent filings. Chinese herbal medicines are expected to continue to head the list. Inputting schemes and non-alcoholic beverages are likely to decline. Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics may drop in the list because, although their numbers are increasing, the increase is relatively small. On the other hand, computer applications, transmission equipment and radio equipment will probably rise, in both relative and absolute terms. [20040]