China seeks to treble patent filings by 2020

China is seeking to treble the number of patent applications its IP office handles over the next five years, the government has announced.

According to new targets, the country is hoping that inventors will file around 14 invention patents per 10,000 inhabitants by 2020. The equivalent figure in 2013 was four out of every 10,000 people.

More than 825,000 patents were filed overall at China’s State Intellectual Property Office in 2013, according to the most up-to-date figures.

"Intellectual property is increasingly becoming a vital component of China's strategic resources and competitive ability," a statement posted on the Central People's Government website on Sunday (January 4) said.

Last month, WIPR reported that a study by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had shown that China was responsible for more than a third of the world’s patent filings in 2013, topping its annual list for a second year in a row.

WIPO’s report, called World Intellectual Property Indicators 2014, revealed that around 32% of the world’s 2.57 million patent applications came from China.

The US and Japan took second and third places.

In its recent announcement, China’s government said it wants to have improved its IP protection and management system by 2020, and that it hopes to reduce the length of the review process for patent applications from the current 22.3 months to 20.2 months by that date.

The country has made concerted efforts in recent years to improve its IP framework. A specialised IP court is due to open in the Guangdong province this year and several e-commerce companies, including Alibaba Group, have committed to tackling the sale of counterfeit goods.