/>iPer statistics released by China’s Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on July 14, 2025, Chinese invention patent grants are down 28.75% in the first half of 2025 versus the first half of 2024. Specifically, the number of invention patents granted decreased by 159,187 to 394,462 grants. Utility model grants also dropped by 21.71% in the first half of 2025 year-on-year to 756,682 grants (down by 209,832 grants). However, design patent grants increased by 3.12% year-on-year to 314,457 grants (up by 9,503 grants).
CNIPA did not provide any reasons for the drop in invention patent grants but it may be related to China’s push for quality over quantity including:
- the end of subsidies for patent grants in 2025;
- the continuing crackdown on “abnormal” patent applications; and
- setting a goal for high-value patents per 10,000 people (instead of only patents per 10,000 people).
The drop in utility model grants may also be related to the introduction of an inventiveness examination for utility models.
In addition, the decrease in patent grants may be related to a slowdown in China’s economy although grants would be a lagging indicator.
Annual data shows utility models grants dropping since 2021 while invention patents have been slowly increasing. It appeared that the drop in utility model grants might be bottoming out but H1 shows grants to be further dropping. Further, the steady increase in invention patents grants has reversed with the significant drop indicated by the H1 data.
Note though per CNIPA’s 2025 budget, CNIPA is expect over 5 million patent application filings this year and to examine over 2 million invention patent applications.
The full data set is available here (Chinese only) including trademark data.
