Feature

China Appropriates 50 Million Yuan For Patenting Overseas In 2009 – Selected news from China Intellectual Property News, Jun 2, 2010

In 2009, China received 2,110 requests for funding for patent filing overseas, 1,146 of which for PCT filing were granted 52.85 million yuan from the central government, according to a May 27 SIPO national conference.

The qualification requirements for gaining the funding ease significantly in 2010. According to relevant regulations, where the patent applicant is a natural person who is also the legal representative of a company, request for funding may be applied in the name of the company. Filing of the request for 2010 shall be done between July 1st and August 15th, 2010.

In an effort to bolster more applications filed overseas, such funding was established under the central government budget framework. On August 28, 2009, China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) released the Interim Procedures on Funding for Patenting Overseas. On May 26, 2010, MOF and SIPO jointly formulated the Circular on Organizing Funding for Patenting Overseas 2010.

According to WIPO’s statistics, the number of PCT filing experienced the first slump in 30 years due to the impact of global financial crisis in 2009. The decreasing rate is about 4.5%. Unaffected by the slow economy, China climbed up to enjoy a 29.7% increase; the total filing number of 7,946 ranked China the 5th top PCT filing country in 2009.