Source:China IP News
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently released the Statistical Report on the Intellectual Property Service Industry Nationwide 2023, indicating that the IP service industry in China remained on a sustainable development track in 2022.
''Investigating and checking the 'inventory' enable relevant entities to further enhance their monitoring and guidance capabilities, thereby assisting in the establishment of a high-quality development framework for the IP service industry characterized by diverse business models, strategic arrangements, ethical conduct, premium services and full-chain integration,'' outlined Mao Hao, a professor with Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property, Tongji University, during an interview with the China Intellectual Property News (CIPN).
Overall market scale continues to expand
The year 2022 witnessed that a joint statement regarding the expeditious advancement of high-quality development of the IP service industry was released by 17 departments including the CNIPA. With a focus on continuously enhancing industry contributions, the statement put forth specific measures from the perspectives of refining industry access and fostering talent teams, providing a clear direction to consolidate the foundation for high-quality development.
The released data from the Report confirm vibrant practice of a continuously expanding market scale in Chinese IP service industry: by the end of 2022, there were approximately 87, 000 IP service institutions in China, of which over 14,000 institutions specialized in IP legal services, over 9, 000 engaged in IP operation services, over 15,000 providing IP information services, and more than 22,000 offering IP consultancy. These figures vividly demonstrate the steady growth of the number of IP service institutions.
Thanks to the multi-pronged efforts, the revenue of IP service industry has steadily increased, which in turn attracts more practitioners to join in and keeps unleashing the market potential. According to the Report, in 2022, IP service institutions in China collectively generated an operating revenue of over 270 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of 3.8%. By the end of 2022, there were approximately 969,000 professionals working in Chinese IP service industry, up 4.4% compared to the end of 2021.
Service provision capability constantly improving
A range of pragmatic measures have facilitated the optimization and upgrade of IP service industry clusters and mounted the "IP Service Journey" event. This also attributes to continuous improvement of supply capacity in Chinese IP service industry.
The Report indicates that more than 60% of IP service institutions are located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta Region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other areas, significantly propping up the development of these areas. Meanwhile, in 2022, patent agencies handled 81.5% of all domestic patent applications in China, while the rate for trademark registration applied by agencies stood at 88.3%, further defining the impact of IP service industry on innovation-driven development.
In recent years, advancements of modern information and digital technologies like big data, cloud computing and blockchain have opened up opportunities for the IP service industry, and continuously tweaked operating models. According to the Report, in 2022, the service range of IP service institutions continued its expansion, displaying a trend of development in niche segments including technological tools and business range. Digital technologies were widely employed in the IP service industry with 27.1% of institutions actively going digital and 79.2% using commercial databases or software to upgrade their services.
Industrial development environment further optimized
The Report mentions that in 2022, the CNIPA continuously optimized development environment for the IP service industry and penalized illegal and improper representation acts by interviewing more than 2,100 agencies, ordering about 1,300 to rectify their operations and imposing administrative fines of more than 12 million yuan on nearly 300 cases.
"In China, IP legal protection has been strengthened while the IP service industry has been on a sustainable development track. There are growing demands for IP services from different types of innovators while IP service institutions supply a wider range of services on a longer chain and greater development space," said Long Chuanhong, Director of Patent & Trademark Law Office, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).
Under support of numerous favorable policies, development environment for the IP service industry has been improved, boosting the confidence of IP service institutions in the bright future of the industry. According to the Report, the confidence index for development of the IP service industry reached 61.9 points in 2022, up 3.5 points over the previous year.
"In October of this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the Special Action Plan for Patent Commercialization and Utilization (2023-2025) and proposed to enhance the service chain for patent commercialization and utilization, laying out higher requirements for the IP service industry. In the future, IP service institutions shall continue to expand their service range and improve their service capacity while modernizing their operation and boosting the deep integration of technology, industry, region and trade development," Mao suggested.
