Last year, China saw an increase in both the quantity and quality of patents, according to a recent news conference given by the State Intellectual Property Office. The country has ranked first in the number of annual invention patent applications for six consecutive years and is the third in the world to have more than 1 million domestic invention patents in force after the United States and Japan. SIPO is the first office to receive 1 million applications in a single year.

(China Daily 01/26/2017 page17)