China’s first patent certificate

China has been on the fast track of patent applications since its first-ever patent was granted in 1985.

The country’s No.1 patent was granted to Hu Guohua, an engineer at Institute 207 of the former Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

On April 1 that year, when China’s Patent Law came into force, Hu submitted the first patent application to the country’s patent office. It was approved with the number of 85100001.0 in December of the same year. The event was hailed as a new record in China’s patent history.

Hu Guohua (R1) gives an interview after he was granted the first patent in China (Photo by Hu Guohua)

Now, China is the first country in the world with the number of patent applications for inventions exceeding 1 million. It is also the third country in the world with the number of effective invention patents surpassing 1 million, following the U.S. and Japan.

PCT patent applications in China also rank second in the world. The country has also recorded the largest volume of patent applications and authorized patents for several years in a row.

China has revised its Patent Law to establish a punitive damage system for intellectual property infringement and strengthen intellectual property protection.