Wednesday marks World Intellectual Property Day. The event, held every year on April 26, is an opportunity for people to learn about the role that intellectual property rights play in innovation and creativity.
Ahead of the day, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce released data showing that China handled 3.691 million trademark registration applications in 2016, marking a 28.4 percent increase compared with 2015.
These figures indicate that China’s trademark registration application system has remained the world’s largest for 15 consecutive years.
CGTN Photo
The top five areas, from which trademark applicants came, were Guangdong Province (689,434), Beijing (372,387), Zhejiang Province (327,572), Shanghai (257,616) and Jiangsu Province (209,900).
Meanwhile, China's top court has released an outline on the judicial protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) between 2016 and 2020.
Over two million copies of infringing publications were destroyed on April 24, 2017 in Dongying, Shandong Province. /VCG Photo
China solved a total of 171,708 intellectual property rights cases in 2016, said Tao Kaiyuan, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court on Monday. The number is a 20.86 percent increase from 2015.
China has promoted easier trademark registration in recent years. Starting in 2016, trademark review collaboration centers have been set up in pilot areas. From 2017, applicants can apply online or go to a local trademark registration center to submit their application.
