BEIJING, April 22 -- China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) on Tuesday said the country accepted a larger proportion of invention patent applications in 2013.

Shen Changyu, head of the SIPO, said China accepted 2,377,000 patent applications and authorized 1,313,000 cases last year. The number of invention patent applications was 825,000, up 26.3 percent year on year.

It is the first time in five years invention patent applications took up more than one third of the three types of applications, said Shen at a press conference. The other two types are utility model and design.

"The patent application structure was further improved in the first quarter of 2014, as nearly 40 percent of applications were invention patent," said Shen.

According to Shen, invention patent applications amounted to 396,000 in the first quarter 2014, up 10.6 percent year on year.

Also in the first quarter, China's international patent applications to the Patent Cooperation Treaty increased by 8.5 percent year on year, indicating that Chinese enterprises have speeded up to enter the international market, he added.

China ranked third in international patent applications to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, with more than 20,000 submissions in 2013.

China also received 1,881,500 applications of trademark registration last year, up 14.15 percent, according to Shen.