On December 28, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) held a press conference releasing the 2022 China Patent Survey Report (2022年中国专利调查报告) and 2022 China Intellectual Property Development Status Evaluation Report (2022年中国知识产权发展状况评价报告).  At the press conference, Mr. Ge Shu, Director of the Strategic Planning Department of the CNIPA, introduced the China Patent Survey, stating that it “aims to investigate and analyze the status of patent creation, protection and utilization in [China] and has been carried out for 15 consecutive years.” Highlights per Mr. Ge include: “the overall effectiveness of my country’s patent transfer and transformation is steadily improving, and the environment for intellectual property protection continues to be optimized.”

Per Mr. Ge:

First, the proportion of patentees who have encountered patent infringement is at a historically low level. In 2022, the proportion of Chinese patentees who have encountered patent infringement will be 7.7%, which has been lower than 8% for two consecutive years. During the Second Five-Year Plan period, the highest proportion was 28.4%. This shows that as my country’s intellectual property protection situation continues to improve, patent infringement has been effectively curbed.

The second is that after enterprises encounter patent infringement, there are more ways to protect their rights. In 2022, 72.7% of Chinese corporate patentees will take rights protection measures after suffering patent infringement, which has remained above 70% for four consecutive years. 50.2% of enterprise patentees took two or more measures to protect their rights after encountering infringement, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the previous year, indicating that the overall ability of Chinese enterprises to protect their patent rights has further improved.

Third, the proportion of high-amount compensation for patent infringement is generally on the rise. In 2022, 7.0% of my country’s patent infringement litigation courts judged compensation, court mediation, or out-of-court settlements amounted to more than 5 million yuan, staying above 7% for two consecutive years. In comparison, during the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the highest proportion was 3.1%. The survey also shows that 45.3% of patentees understand the punitive damages system for patent infringement, and the concept of “strict protection” of intellectual property rights is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The scope of the survey covers 24 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China, involving 18,000 patentees, with a response rate of 82.1%.

The full text of the press conference is available here (Chinese only). The 2022 China Patent Survey Report  is available here: 2022年中国专利调查报告 (Chinese only) and the 2022 China Intellectual Property Development Status Evaluation Report is available here: 2022年中国知识产权发展状况评价报告 (Chinese only).