Official: Patent licensing grows with innovation

As more innovation is developed and available, patent licensing is expected to show strong growth in China, according to a senior official at the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

Cao Donggen, vice-director of SIPO's patent administration department, told a conference in Beijing on Dec 22 that an increasingly active licensing trade has emerged due to new patent alliances and IP firms in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

In 2007, just 118 patent licensing agreements were filed with SIPO. The number has surged to around 10,000 annually since 2008.

The growing capability of companies to use the intellectual property system, as well as the rising number of applications and improved patent quality, have laid the groundwork for the licensing trade, Cao said.

SIPO received more than 391,000 patent applications last year as China moved to second place globally.

International patent filings from China under the Patent Cooperation Treaty comprised 7.6 percent of the world's total, fourth following the United States, Japan and Germany.

Internationally, patent royalty and licensing fees increased from $2.8 billion in 1970 to about $180 billion in 2009, outpacing growth in global GDP, according to "The Changing Face of Innovation", a report released by the World Intellectual Property Office in mid-November.