�� The Chinese State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) handled 60,443 patent applications in the first eight months of this year, up 65 percent from the same period last year.

�� Today's China Daily reported that the efficiency of patent examinations in China has been greatly improved by the effort of the SIPO.

�� Patent applications for new inventions and product designs now can be handled tin a timely manner.

�� During the first half of this year, the number of handled patent applications was 38 percent more than planned, said Wu Boming, SIPO's vice-commissioner.

�� Patent examinations are regarded as efficient if applications can be resolved within 30 months from the registration date, Wu said.

�� However, he added, shortages of specialized examiners occasionally caused application delays of up to seven years.

�� To address the problem, SIPO has, since last October, invited retired patent examiners to help examiners classify application files in a bid to solve this problem, he said.

�� Moreover, he noted, the SIPO will publish bulletins periodically to supervise the quality of patent examinations. (Xinhua)