The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently released its 2024 annual report, including data on patents, trademarks, and other related matters. In 2024, for the number of Chinese patent applications (including inventions, utility models, and designs), there is a total of 5,653,429 patent applications filed by the domestic applicants, which is an increase of approximately 5% compared to the previous year. Foreign applicants filed a total of 178,490 patent applications, a decrease of less than 1%. Regarding trademark applications, domestic applicants filed a total of 6,786,059, a decrease of 2.9%, while foreign applicants filed 184,500, a decrease of 7.6%.
China currently leads the world in patent and trademark applications, and its examination efficiency continues to improve. According to the CNIPA report for patent and trademark filings in 2024, the average examination pendency is 15.5 months for an invention patent application. Utility model application and design application undergo only formal examination, and the pendency period is typically within 3 to 6 months. The average examination period is 4 months for a trademark application. The following are relevant statistics for Chinese patent and trademark cases from 2023 to 2024.
Table 1
| Number of China Patent Applications in 2023 | Number of China Patent Applications in 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Domestic applicant | 1,522,292 | 3,057,150 | 804,007 | 5,383,449 | 1,672,001 | 3,178,314 | 3,114 | 5,653,429 |
| Foreign applicant | 155,409 | 6,778 | 16,354 | 178,541 | 156,053 | 6,338 | 16,099 | 178,490 |
| Subtotal | 1,677,701 | 3,063,928 | 820,361 | | 1,828,054 | 3,184,652 | 19,213 | |
| Grand Total | 5,561,990 | | Grand Total | 5,831,919 |
| Percentage of Domestic applicant | 90.74% | 99.78% | 98.01% | 96.79% | 91.46% | 99.80% | 98.03% | 96.94% |
| Percentage of Domestic applicant | 9.26% | 0.22% | 1.99% | 3.21% | 8.54% | 0.20% | 1.97% | 3.06% |
Table 2
| 2023 China Trademarks | 2024 China Trademarks |
|---|
| Number of Trademark Application | Number of Registered Trademark | Valid Registration by end of year | Number of Trademark Application | Number of Registered Trademark | Valid Registration by end of year |
| Domestic applicant | 6,988,704 | 4,247,938 | 44,047,071 | 6,786,059 | 4,639,403 | 47,620,439 |
| Foreign Applicant | 199,632 | 134,776 | 2,099,372 | 184,500 | 141,328 | 2,156,215 |
| Total | 7,188,336 | 4,382,714 | 46,146,443 | 6,970,559 | 4,780,731 | 49,776,654 |
| Percentage of Domestic Applicant | 97.22% | 96.92% | 95.45% | 97.35% | 97.04% | 95.67% |
| Percentage of Foreign Applicant | 2.78% | 3.08% | 4.55% | 2.65% | 2.96% | 4.33% |
Table 3
| Country and Origin of Applicant | Number of Patent Applications in 2023 | Number of Patent Applications in 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Japan | 46,236 | 1,301 | 3,337 | 50,874 | 45,201 | 1,172 | 3,071 | 49,444 |
| United States | 40,380 | 1,436 | 5,007 | 46,823 | 39,584 | 1,276 | 4,715 | 45,575 |
| Korea | 20,016 | 1,334 | 1,850 | 23,200 | 21,040 | 1,157 | 1,664 | 23,861 |
| Germany | 15,472 | 641 | 1,380 | 17,493 | 16,285 | 808 | 1,277 | 18,370 |
| Taiwan | 9,422 | 3,860 | 961 | 14,243 | 9,370 | 4,069 | 996 | 14,435 |
| Switzerland | 4,684 | 184 | 531 | 5,399 | 5,369 | 228 | 569 | 6,166 |
| France | 4,724 | 325 | 557 | 5,606 | 4,637 | 267 | 621 | 5,525 |
| The Netherlands | 3,331 | 168 | 316 | 3,815 | 3,416 | 153 | 411 | 3,980 |
| United Kingdom | 3,147 | 103 | 611 | 3,861 | 3,096 | 129 | 567 | 3,792 |
| Sweden | 2,366 | 84 | 319 | 2,769 | 2,322 | 78 | 289 | 2,689 |
| Singapore | 1,720 | 209 | 351 | 2,280 | 1,901 | 248 | 464 | 2,613 |
| Italy | 1,905 | 133 | 445 | 2,483 | 1,683 | 95 | 621 | 2,399 |
Table 4
| Country and Origin of Applicant | 2023 China Trademarks | 2024 China Trademarks |
|---|
| Number of Trademark Applications | Number of Registered Trademarks | Valid registrations by end of year | Number of Trademark Applications | Number of Registered Trademarks | Valid registrations by end of year |
| Hong Kong | 66,940 | 48,280 | 791,387 | 44,264 | 37,876 | 776,802 |
| United States | 39,475 | 29,974 | 456,078 | 35,399 | 27,711 | 469,418 |
| Japan | 19,596 | 15,680 | 274,831 | 18,850 | 15,955 | 282,418 |
| Germany | 12,460 | 10,404 | 195,748 | 10,983 | 8,468 | 197,027 |
| Taiwan | 9,230 | 5,832 | 180,396 | 8,972 | 6,313 | 176,438 |
| United Kingdom | 33,710 | 16,187 | 156,532 | 26,977 | 23,262 | 173,271 |
| Korea | 14,316 | 9,539 | 141,515 | 13,161 | 10,116 | 147,390 |
| France | 9,614 | 6,473 | 118,158 | 8,711 | 6,992 | 120,293 |
| Italy | 5,851 | 4,433 | 89,027 | 5,777 | 4,186 | 89,207 |
| Switzerland | 6,701 | 4,866 | 85,520 | 5,996 | 4,394 | 87,156 |
| Australia | 4,917 | 3,503 | 54,287 | 5,577 | 3,675 | 56,229 |
| Singapore | 6,029 | 3,751 | 45,806 | 5,675 | 3,754 | 46,372 |
Table 5
| Country and Origin of Applicant | 2023 China Trademarks | 2024 China Trademarks |
|---|
| Number of Trademark Applications | Number of Registered Trademarks | Valid registrations by end of year | Number of Trademark Applications | Number of Registered Trademarks | Valid registrations by end of year |
| Hong Kong | 66,940 | 48,280 | 791,387 | 44,264 | 37,876 | 776,802 |
| United States | 39,475 | 29,974 | 456,078 | 35,399 | 27,711 | 469,418 |
| Japan | 19,596 | 15,680 | 274,831 | 18,850 | 15,955 | 282,418 |
| Germany | 12,460 | 10,404 | 195,748 | 10,983 | 8,468 | 197,027 |
| Taiwan | 9,230 | 5,832 | 180,396 | 8,972 | 6,313 | 176,438 |
| United Kingdom | 33,710 | 16,187 | 156,532 | 26,977 | 23,262 | 173,271 |
| Korea | 14,316 | 9,539 | 141,515 | 13,161 | 10,116 | 147,390 |
| France | 9,614 | 6,473 | 118,158 | 8,711 | 6,992 | 120,293 |
| Italy | 5,851 | 4,433 | 89,027 | 5,777 | 4,186 | 89,207 |
| Switzerland | 6,701 | 4,866 | 85,520 | 5,996 | 4,394 | 87,156 |
| Australia | 4,917 | 3,503 | 54,287 | 5,577 | 3,675 | 56,229 |
| Singapore | 6,029 | 3,751 | 45,806 | 5,675 | 3,754 | 46,372 |
Table 5
| China Patent | Number of valid patents by end of 2023 | Number of valid patents by end of 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Domestic Applicant | 4,088,695 | 12,075,757 | 3,115,376 | 19,279,828 | 4,756,307 | 11,606,374 | 2,949,290 | 19,311,971 |
| Foreign Applicant | 901,938 | 52,920 | 118,308 | 1,073,166 | 932,560 | 50,737 | 124,622 | 1,107,919 |
Table 5
| China Patent | Number of valid patents by end of 2023 | Number of valid patents by end of 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Domestic Applicant | 4,088,695 | 12,075,757 | 3,115,376 | 19,279,828 | 4,756,307 | 11,606,374 | 2,949,290 | 19,311,971 |
| Foreign Applicant | 901,938 | 52,920 | 118,308 | 1,073,166 | 932,560 | 50,737 | 124,622 | 1,107,919 |
Table 6
| China Patent | Number of valid patents by end of 2023 | Number of valid patents by end of 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Domestic Applicant | 4,088,695 | 12,075,757 | 3,115,376 | 19,279,828 | 4,756,307 | 11,606,374 | 2,949,290 | 19,311,971 |
| Foreign Applicant | 901,938 | 52,920 | 118,308 | 1,073,166 | 932,560 | 50,737 | 124,622 | 1,107,919 |
Table 7
| China Patent | Number of valid patents by end of 2023 | Number of valid patents by end of 2024 |
|---|
| Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total | Invention | Utility Model | Design | Total |
| Domestic Applicant | 4,088,695 | 12,075,757 | 3,115,376 | 19,279,828 | 4,756,307 | 11,606,374 | 2,949,290 | 19,311,971 |
| Foreign Applicant | 901,938 | 52,920 | 118,308 | 1,073,166 | 932,560 | 50,737 | 124,622 | 1,107,919 |
