SZ ranks No. 1 in patent applications

Shenzhen ranked No. 1 in patent applications, patents granted, patents of inventions and international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in the year 2019, according to a white paper on the development of intellectual property in 2019 released by the city’s market supervision authority Tuesday.

Simultaneously, the market supervision authority launched a weeklong event highlighting protection of intellectual property rights to mark the 20th World Intellectual Property Day that falls on Sunday.

Shenzhen’s patent applications in China in 2019 reached 261,502, an increase of 14.4 percent over the number in 2018. Among them, the applications for patents of inventions increased by 18.4 percent to 82,852 and patents granted increased by 18.8 percent to 166,609.

The number of applications for patents of inventions increased by 22.3 percent to 26,051.

Huawei and Tencent ranked No. 1 and No. 5 in China with 4,510 and 2,146 patents granted.

The number of patents for inventions had reached 138,534 by the end of 2019, an increase of 16.5 percent over the number reached at the end of 2018.

For every 10,000 residents, there were 106.3 invention patents, eight times the national average, according to the city’s market supervision authority.

The invention patent ownership for every 10,000 residents in Nanshan District was 396.9 on average, ranking it first in China.

The city’s international PCT applications in 2019 stood at 17,459, taking first place among major Chinese cities for 16 straight years and taking up 30.6 percent of applications from China and 70.6 percent from Guangdong Province.

The number of PCT applications by Huawei Technologies in 2019 reached 4,637, ranking it first among enterprises in the world.

The trademark applications and registrations in Shenzhen also continued to increase in 2019, both ranking second among major Chinese cities, the authority said.