China deepens global IP cooperation with over 80 partners

China has established partnerships with over 80 countries and regions in intellectual property (IP) cooperation, Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, said at a press conference on Thursday, elaborating on China's IP achievements during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

The country's IP cooperation has been further strengthened and expanded with the U.S., the European Union (EU), Japan, South Korea, the BRICS members, ASEAN countries, Central Asian countries and African countries, effectively supporting high-level opening up, said Shen.

In 2021, China and the EU inked an agreement on geographical indications protection and cooperation, achieving mutual recognition and protection of the first batch of listed products. In 2022, the country successfully acceded to the Hague Agreement, a global treaty to govern the registration of industrial designs. China has also made efforts to promote the conclusion of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, as well as the Riyadh Design Law Treaty.

In 2024, China rose to the 11th place in the global innovation index, and led the world with 26 science and technology clusters in the top 100, according to the WIPO.

Transformation of patents

China has effectively promoted the transformation and industrialization of a large number of patents.

The industrialization rate of enterprise invention patents increased from 44.9 percent in 2020 to 53.3 percent in 2024. The added value of patent-intensive industries as a percentage of GDP rose from 11.97 percent in 2020 to 13.04 percent in 2023.

A large number of core technology patents have been achieved in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), information and communication, new energy vehicles, quantum technology, biomedicine and photovoltaics, strongly supporting China's self-reliance in science and technology, and the development of new quality productive forces.

By June, the number of valid domestic invention patents reached 5.01 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.2 percent. The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people has reached a new high of 15.3, surpassing the target of 12 set for the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

AI-empowered patent review

China has also utilized cutting-edge tools to facilitate its patent review work.

In January 2023, a new review system was officially launched, featuring functions such as online translation, graphic recognition and intelligent comparison. It has helped reviewers reduce repetitive work, allowing them to focus more on the professional aspects of the review, thus enhancing the quality and efficiency of the process.

Large language models have been trained to serve multiple scenarios in the review process, including patent search, technical concept comprehension and legal application.

Shen said the application of AI in the work will be further explored to meet the diversified needs of innovation entities.

At the same time, it has been clearly defined that the application of AI in the review work serves only as an auxiliary tool, and the AI-generated inferences cannot be directly used as review comments, said Shen.