China sees rapid growth in trademark registration
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-04-17 15:03
China's trademark applications grew on an average of 25.2 percent a year in
the first five years of the decade, more than double the growth rate of the
country's gross domestic product.
By the end of 2005, 132 countries and regions had filed a total of 2.499
million trademark applications in China, of which 442,000 applications came from
other countries, according to official statistics released here Monday from the
China Achievements Exhibition for Intellectual Property Protection (IPR).
The exhibition, the first in China highlighting intellectual property, opened
on Sunday at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing.
China has ranked first in the world in the number of trademark applications
for the past four years, according to the exhibition organized by China's 11
IPR-related governmental organizations which include the Ministry of Commerce,
State Administration of Industry and Commerce, State Administration of Customs
and the Bureau of Public Securities.
Trademark registration was first implemented in China in 1981. In the first
14 years trademark applications averaged 100,000 a year. Last year that number
reached 400,000.
China's overseas trademark applications have also been on rise. In 1989, the
State Administration of Industry and Commerce only received four applications to
register overseas trademarks. By the end of 2005, however, the number has
climbed to 1,334, up 31.4 percent over 2004, statistics from the World
Intellectual Property Organization disclosed.
As part of China's 2006 Intellectual Property Rights Protection Week, the
eight-day exhibition aims to spread IPR related knowledge to the general public
and epitomize the country's achievements in protecting trademarks, patents and
copyright as well as customs and judicial affairs.
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