BEIJING - Chinese companies have been urged to draw up a strategic plan in order to protect their intellectual property rights (IPR), according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) deputy secretary-general Yu Xiaodong.

"Chinese enterprises, which aim at global markets, should have much earlier concerns over protecting their IPRs," said Yu.

He was speaking at a seminar held by the CCPIT on Friday, analyzing the Patent Cooperation Treaty and sharing experiences of IP protection with enterprise deputies.

Yu said the CCPIT is making efforts to provide a better service to Chinese companies under cooperation with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

Ma Hao, chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) China IP Committee, said intellectual property has become a core value to compete in the international community and appealed for all people working in the industry to innovate.

The ICC China IP Committee was established by the CCPIT in 2012, and is expected this year to release a series of activities concerning IP issues so as to form a communicative platform for Chinese enterprises to protect their IPRs.

According to SIPO figures, a total of 217,105 invention patents to domestic and overseas applicants were authorized in 2012, up 26.1 percent from the previous year.

Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp were granted the most invention patents on the Chinese mainland in 2012.