“Historically, countries have increasingly viewed their technologies as income sources but have found it difficult to develop their technological capabilities and almost impossible to catch up with the technology superpowers in the West.”

The patent landscape in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is steadily emerging as one of the most transformative spaces and is considered to be a measure of the PRC’s developments and advances in science, technology and innovation (STI). In analysing the patent landscape in the PRC, a nationwide survey was conducted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the apex body for intellectual property governance and protection (IPG&P) in the PRC. The survey is conducted in more than 24 major provinces in the PRC, followed by the release of the China Patent Survey Report (nian zhongguo zhuanli diaocha baogao). Interestingly, as part of the 12 th Five-Year Plan, the parameters of the survey were expanded to various facets like patent creation, utilisation, protection, management, and service, from the patent sampling of authorised patents to effective patents, and gradually targeted Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent applications, central enterprises, strategic emerging industries etc. The elements of the survey were further expanded in the 13 th Five-Year Plan and 14 th Five-Year Plan period. The recently released 2022 China Patent Survey Report has added and expanded to newer avenues related to patent industrialisation, income, and protection, open licensing, internationalisation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), and digital transformation and innovation of companies and enterprises.

Historically, countries have increasingly viewed their technologies as income sources but have found it difficult to develop their technological capabilities and almost impossible to catch up with the technology superpowers in the West. Evidently, this has transformed and transitioned within the PRC in the 21st century, including policies like the “catch up with and surpass” especially in the recent years until the impact of the COVID pandemic, the Great Reset and technological decoupling due to the technology-cum-trade war with the U.S. PRC’s patent landscape and related performance in 2022 has been primarily construed as positive. The overall effect of patent transfer and transformation in the PRC saw an increase of 1.3 per cent in the industrialisation rate of invention patents and the Chinese enterprises’ invention patents. There was a 3.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent growth in the large and medium- sized enterprises, respectively. However, there was a decrease in the industrialisation rate of utility model patents by 6.4 per cent, of small businesses by 2.4 per cent and of micro-enterprises by 4.6 per cent. Nearly half of the patentees are also willing to adopt the ‘open license method’ required to transform and implement the patent. There was also an increase in the transfer rate of invention patents, which saw an annual growth rate of 4.1 per cent, growing three-fold since 2018. Further, the cost-effectiveness of the patent landscape within the PRC is evident with the low rates for the rate of industrialisation (21.3 per cent), which is half of the amount of transfer of invention patents transferred by companies and enterprises (48.1 per cent).


China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) held a press conference releasing the 2022 China Patent Survey Report (2022). Image courtesy, China IP Magazine

Furthermore, there has been a 2.9 per cent increase in the average income of Chinese companies and enterprises from the industrialisation of invention patents, while the average income produced through the industry-university-research cooperation grew nearly 30 per cent higher than the overall average income. This report indicates that the implementation and industrialisation rates of invention patents in Chinese universities have increased, and the industrialisation level of industry-university R&D invention patents is relatively high. Regarding invention patent licensing, there has been an annual growth rate of 1.7 per cent and a cumulative increase of 7.6 per cent over the last five years. This is similar to the case of the companies and enterprise invention patent licensing rate, which saw an annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent and a cumulative increase of 8.8 per cent over the last five years.

Meanwhile, the industrialisation rate of industry-university R&D invention patents of universities as first patentees was 17.8 per cent, higher than the average level of invention patents of universities. General licensing provided about 64.3 per cent of the patents licensed by major universities and colleges to others, showing an annual growth rate of 2.1 per cent. The exclusive licensing used by junior colleges and higher vocational colleges accounts for 33.1 per cent of the total patents licensed. About 55.4 per cent of the colleges and universities have carried out the reform of giving scientific and technological achievements (including patent rights) ownership or long-term use rights to personnel related to scientific research. The implementation and industrialisation rates of invention patents in academia saw an annual growth rate of 3.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.



Patent infringement and the need for continuous optimization of the PRC’s intellectual property rights protection has been a massive priority for the Chinese State. In 2022, the proportion of Chinese patentees has slightly improved to 7.7 per cent from 8 per cent, which has been part of the successful initiatives and strategies undertaken by the State since the 13 th Five-Year Plan. Due to corporate patent infringement, about 72.7 per cent of Chinese enterprise patentees took the rights protection measures after suffering patent infringement, while 50.2 per cent of the enterprise patentees took two or more measures to protect their rights after encountering infringement, an increase of 1.9 per cent.

Interestingly, the compensation for patent infringement cases, including court mediation or out-of-court settlement, amounts to more than five million yuan (above 7 per cent). This is more than double than that during the period of the 13 th Five-Year Plan, which stayed at 3.1 per cent. Additionally, the proportion of corporate patentees using overseas patents was more than double the proportion of patents licensed or transferred to overseas units or individuals, while the proportion of large conglomerates and enterprises using overseas patents was 7.1 per cent. Chinese companies and enterprises have actively responded to technology backwardness by increasing investment in independent innovation and R&D, though there have been strategies to utilise alternative technologies and frugal innovation.

(Author is Assistant Professor of Politics, Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Email: [email protected]. Views expressed in the article are personal to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of AICIS.)

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