Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2009 submitted by China (CWS/ATR/PI/2009/CN)

Click here to print the ATR form.

The term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs).

Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

  Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year
  In 2009, the State Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter SIPO) received 314,573 invention applications, an 8.5% increase compared to 2008, while inventions granted were 128.489, with a 37.1% increase.
There were 310,771 utility model applications filed in 2009, a 37.8% increase compared to 2008, and utility models granted were 203,802, with a 15.4% increase.

  Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
  Among the technical fields (according to the definition of the International Patent Classification) in which the number of applications filed in 2009 exceeded 4,000, the following has experienced rapid changes compared to 2008:
The number of applications in Class A01 (Agriculture; Forestry; Animal husbandry; Fishery) was 5,868, a 24.7% increase.
The number of applications in Class B23 (Machine tools) was 4,143, a 19.8% increase.
The number of applications in Class H02 (Generation, conversion, or distribution of electric power) was 7,433, a 17.0% increase.
The number of applications in Class G01 (Measuring; Testing) was 15,721, a 9.4% increase.
The number of applications in Class H04 (Electric communication technique) was 35,324, a 4.8% increase.
Utility models
Among the technical fields (according to the definition of the International Patent Classification) in which the number of applications filed in 2009 exceeded 5,000, the following has experienced rapid changes compared to 2008:
The number of applications in Class H02 (Generation, conversion, or distribution of electric power) was 10,448, a 50.7% increase.
The number of applications in Class B23 (Machine tools) was 7,008, a 44.0% increase.
The number of applications in Class G01 (Measuring; Testing) was 13,717, a 29.6% increase.
The number of applications in Class F21 (Lighting) was 9,568, a 29.3% increase.
The number of applications in Class H01 (Basic electric elements) was 18,549, a 25.2% increase.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide statistics related to patents
  Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/tjxx/;
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/statistics/
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

  Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)
  Nowadays, SIPO not only promotes the electronic publication of patent information on the Internet, but also keeps the traditional medium of paper.

  Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information
  Patent gazettes
Patent gazettes for inventions and utility models are published in paper and TIFF formats once a week with the bibliographic data, abstracts and representing drawings, legal status, indexes, etc.
Patent specifications
Specifications of inventions published, granted and utility models granted are published together with patent gazettes once a week in TIFF formats, with claims, descriptions and drawings.
Patent certificates
The patent certificates for inventions, utility models and designs are issued periodically.

  Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)
  The above-mentioned documents are stored in the medium of DVD and HDD.

  Word processing and office automation
  The paper filings are scanned and converted into the electronic image data for subsequent procedures. The bibliographic data are manually collected twice, and then the two sets of data are compared automatically to find the differences so as to eliminate the clerical errors.

  (New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), etc.)
  Patent gazettes
By using electronic scanning and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies in the data processing, the documents of patent gazettes in TIFF format after editing and typesetting are published in paper, optical disks and on the Internet.
Patent specification
Image files in TIFF format are generated by scanning, and after content selection and layout design the files are printed into pamphlets of specifications by using digital printing equipments and accessible on the Internet.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data
  Chinese
Patent gazette：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zwgs/zlgb/；
Patent search：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zljs/；
English
Patent Search：
http://59.151.99.140/sipo_EN/search/tabSearch.do?method=init
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

   Abstracting, reviewing, translating
  SIPO provides translation service from Chinese to English. In 2009 SIPO continued translating Chinese patent abstracts, titles, applicants and inventors. SIPO also made great efforts in improving the Chinese-English Machine Translation System, resulting in further improvement on both system capability and translation quality.

  Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), and reclassification3 activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)
  During 2009, 480,000 new applications were classified according to the International Patent Classifications.
About 16,990 documents were reclassified due to the entry into force of the version of the IPC (2009.01).

  Coordinate indexing (domestic deep indexing systems, keyword indexing)
  Titles, abstracts and main claims of inventions published, granted and utility models granted are indexed with keywords

  Hybrid system indexing
  No activities.

  Bibliographic data and full-text processing
  According to the "China Patent Data Element Standard" based on WIPO standard ST.36, the data processed by SIPO includes inventions published, granted and utility models granted.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

  File building
  The full image data of inventions published, granted and utility models granted since 1985, as well as the bibliographic data, abstracts and main claims are added to the search file, which is updated every two weeks.

  Updating
  See "File building".

  Storage, including mass storage media
  Except that EPOQUE system uses an independent magnetic disk array, all the other search files are stored in uniform magnetic disk arrays and backuped with magnetic tapes.

  Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
  Via data exchange and purchase, SIPO collects the patent documentations from most countries in the world, and among these US, JP, EP, and WO files are added in the search file:
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

  In-house systems (online/offline)
  Following search systems are provided by SIPO:
CPRS
By using a dedicated client application, examiners of SIPO can access CPRS from the desktops. The system contains the Chinese patents since 1985, and provides the search entries of the bibliographic data, abstracts, claims and keywords, via which examiners can retrieve the full image data of the patents. Besides, the system also incorporates the patent documents from US, JP, EP and WO, and its full image data can be retrievable by publication number.
EPOQUE
EPOQUE can be accessed by a dedicated client application from the desktops, which has become the main foreign documentations search system used by examiners.

  External databases
  SIPO's examiners can access STN database. Besides, they can also search the NPL databases including ISI Web of Knowledge, Elsevier Science Direct, IEEE/IEE Electronic Library through the hyperlinks on its official website.

  Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
  Electronic Filing System (EFS)
SIPO launched the EFS in 2004 in order to provide online filing service for applicants. In 2007, e-PCT system was also put into production to accept electronic PCT-SAFE filings.
China Patent Management System Ⅲ（CPMSⅢ）
CPMSⅢ is designed to administrate workflow and assist formality examination.
Computer Aided Examination System
The system includes patent examination subsystems for inventions and utility models, which can help examiners to perform the examination.

  Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
  Examiners can access the Intranet with 10Gbps core switch and 100Mbps link to desktops for the network resources.

  Existing online thesauri; their structure, presentation and usefulness for computerized searches
  No activity.
VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

  Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings
  Patent Documentation Library
Patent Documentation Library offers documents reading, inquiry, search, replication and training services and is equipped with 60 computers for the public to access SIPO's intranet and Internet information resources.
Intellectual Property Library
The Intellectual Property Library collects domestic and international intellectual property books, journals and electronic publications.
Science and Technology Library
The Science and Technology Library collects domestic and international technical books, journals and electronic publications commonly used in the patent examination.

  Collecting, acquisitions, preparation
  Currently SIPO collects patent data, non-patent literature, domestic and international books and journals via data exchange and purchase.

  Collection management, preservation
  Books are preserved with the storage number and classifications and put on shelves.

  Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country
  No activity.

  Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
  The public service provided by SIPO includes:
Call center
The center offers information consultation to the public free of charge by face-to-face, telephone, online and mail.
Official website
The official website of SIPO offers search and inquiry services in both Chinese and English. Over 3 million records of Chinese patent data since 1985 and Chinese to English machine translation service are made available to the general public. In 2009, the official website of SIPO received 4.06 billion hits in total.
Local Patent Information Center
SIPO has set up 47 local patent information centers across the country and provided them with patent data. These centers provide search and inquiry services for the public.
Local Patent Receiving Offices
SIPO has set up Local Patent Receiving Offices in 24 cities all over the country in order to accept patent filings and provide inquiry service for the public.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications
  SIPO provides the following website for the online filing: http://www.cponline.gov.cn/,

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.
  Chinese: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zlsqzn/sqq/;
English:
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380173.htm;
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380170.htm.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., patent search service(s) and patent databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
  Information Products
"China Patent Specification" optical disk, which collects the specifications of inventions and utility models since 1985.
"China Patent Abstract Databases" optical disk, which collects nearly 3.7 million pieces of patents information (including inventions, utility models and designs) since 1985. The information of each piece includes the inventor, publication date, priority, legal status, abstract, and main claim, etc.
"China Patent English Abstract Databases" optical disk, i.e. "ABSDAT(C)", which collects published inventions and granted utility models since 1985, containing bibliographic data and abstracts in English.
"China Patent gazette" optical disk, which provides the gazettes information weekly (see http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zwgs/zlgb/).
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/xxcp/zlwxgp/200804/t20080407_370310.html
Search services
SIPO offers the following search systems on its official website:
Patent search, provides the bibliographic data, abstracts and specifications of Chinese patent information including inventions, utility models since 1985.
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zljs/ (Chinese) and
http://59.151.99.140/sipo_EN/search/tabSearch.do?method=init (English)
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

  International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information
  By 2009, SIPO has collected patent specifications from 48 patent authorities, 20 types of patent gazettes from 20 authorities, and patent search data from 102 authorities in the medium of paper and DVD.
In exchange, SIPO has mutually sent patent specifications to 23 authorities, official gazettes to 19 countries, and Chinese patent English abstracts to 37 authorities in the medium of DVD.

  Medium used for exchange of priority documents
  Since May 2006, SIPO has begun to transmit the priority documents to WIPO through EDI, and has received the priority documents from WIPO in optical disks.

  Medium allowed for filing applications
  The applications can be filed in both paper and electronic form.
VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office's website wherever appropriate)

  Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means
  In 2009, the training of SIPO kept growing rapidly. 111 training seminars were held to new examiners, patent agents, enterprises, academia, local government officials and IP judges, with 42,624 trainees in total.
In 2009, SIPO added more long-distance learning courses, including 11 video pre-exam courses for patent agents, 12 video lectures on specific topics and 8 multimedia courses. By the end of 2009, 10 sub sites of long-distance learning had been set up, including Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Wenhua College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and China Petroleum & Chemical.
In 2009, 951 students studied DL101 courses and the number increased by 11.6% over last year.

  Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
  In 2009, SIPO continued to increase its technical assistance to developing countries. These activities have expanded the cooperation areas, enhanced the partnership and thereby spurred China's all-round international cooperation in the IP field.
In December, SIPO joined WIPO in holding Training Course for African Senior IP Officials at CIPTC with participation of 24 officials from African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and 28 officials from l'Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI).
From September 7 to 12, 10 plus 3 (ASEAN, China, Japan and Republic of Korea) SMEs and IP Seminar was held at the CIPTC with 22 participants from 16 Asian countries and organizations.
In 2009, under the Developing Countries Cooperation Fund, SIPO provided training for GCC and OAPI.
In April, four GCC patent examiners received a two-week patent examination training in SIPO.
From April 11 to 26, 10 examiners from National Office of Industrial Property of Viet Nam received examination training in SIPO.
In June, OAPI Director General led a six-member delegation to China for a week-long on-site observing and training.
From August 18 to 24, upon invitation of ARIPO, SIPO sent three experts to Maputo, Mozambique for ARIPO Traditional Knowledge Seminar, giving lectures to the representatives on traditional Chinese medicine and other issues.
From December 9 to 20, SIPO provided training on Chinese IP system for delegations from Pakistan, Cuba, Thailand, Mongolia and Vietnam. Some delegations also visited Beijing, Tianjin and Guangdong IP administrations.

  Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
  In 2009, SIPO organized several international symposia and seminars together with foreign IP Offices and international organizations. The speakers have given their lectures or trainees been trained in SIPO from more than 50 international organizations and countries like WIPO, ARIPO, EPO, etc.. SIPO also received over 320 foreign visitors from international organizations and foreign countries, such as EPO, IP Office of UK, Canadian IP Office, IP Australia, etc..
The WIPO Inter-Regional High-Level Forum on Intellectual Property was held on March 30 in Beijing. Wang Qishan, Vice Premier of China's State Council, and Francis Gurry, Director General of the WIPO, delivered the keynote speeches. Wang stressed that dialogue and cooperation shall be enhanced to promote mutual benefit.
From April 22 to 24, SIPO and USPTO held the Seminar on Patent Filing and Protection in Hangzhou and Shenzhen.
On May 12 and 13, SIPO and the French National Institute of Industrial Property jointly organized the Seminar on Innovation and Value Creation in Shanghai.
On June 4, SIPO and the UK IP Office jointly held a Seminar in Guangzhou city on How to Promote and Encourage the Use and Understanding of the IP System in China and the UK.
From June 23 to 26, Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang visited Mongolia, met with senior leadership of the Mongolian government and Director General of Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia and attended the 4th China-Mongolia IP System Development Seminar. In the same month, Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang signed the Record of Discussion between SIPO-IPO Pakistan with Mr. Pervaiz Kausar, Chairman of Intellectual Property Organization (IPO) of Pakistan.
From July 29 to 31, Commissioner Tian Lipu attended the Trading Ideas 2009 (TI 2009) Symposium organized by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).
In August and September, SIPO and WIPO held the WIPO Advanced Course on IP Administration at the CIPTC and the PCT Advanced Roving Seminars in Harbin and Xi'an.
On December 15, SIPO and WIPO jointly organized the Seminar for Senior Officials and Senior Examiners from African Countries in Beijing.

  Studies to identify trends in new technology, e.g., by the use of patent statistics and preparation of monographs
  In 2009, SIPO developed academic researches in many technological fields, including medicinal plant, laser welding, smart card, storage, mobile multimedia broadcasting, diabetes medication, insect-resist hybrid cotton, anti-depressant, MMP inhibitor, sealing technology, electrophoretic, virtual reality technology.

  Assistance furnished by offices to facilitate the changing over of receiving offices to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents (see also fourth sub-item of item VI, above)
  SIPO has set up a FTP server for updating frontfiles.
IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office's website that:

  provide information on legislation related to patents
  Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zcfg/
English： http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/laws/

  contain the Annual Report of the Office
  Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/gk/
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/laws/

  if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
  Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/

  provide open source codes related to patent information systems
  No activity.

  contain patent-related news regarding the Office
  Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/；
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/news/
X. Other relevant matters
1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.
2.Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
3.Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.

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