At a July 12, 2022 press conference (国新办举行上半年知识产权相关工作统计数据新闻发布会), China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced that for the first half of 2022, the number of invention patent grants reached 393,000 (up 16% from 2021 H1), 1,473,000 utility model patents were granted (up 10.9%), and 383,000 design patents were granted (down 2.5%).

CNIPA accepted 33,000 PCT international patent applications. Chinese applicants submitted 353 international design applications through the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs. 31,000 patent reexamination cases were closed, and 5,000 invalidation cases were closed.

As of the end of June 2022, there were 325,000 Chinese enterprises with valid invention patents, a year-on-year increase of 20.3%.

Hu Wenhui, Deputy Director of the State Intellectual Property Office also implied that the number of invention patent applications from Shanghai enterprises dropped due to the 2-month COVID-19 lockdown but have since recovered although no specific data was released.

Taking Shanghai as an example, the number of invention patent applications in June reversed the previous decline, and the month-on-month data recovered. Local intellectual property management departments and innovation entities actively overcame the impact of the epidemic, and their innovation and creativity capabilities have been restored.

You can watch the press conference here (Chinese only).