Part of this year's Patent Week series, the awards marked the first time an IP media named top agencies and agents, organizers said.

To ensure the fairness, an expert panel with representatives from the State Intellectual Property Office, local IP authorities across the nation, companies, trade associations and universities reviewed preliminary qualifiers based on 4,100 questionnaires received nationwide, according to the newspaper.

"The patent agency is a sunrise industry in China," said He Hua, vice-commissioner of SIPO, at the award ceremony in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. "It needs guidance."

"Patent agency firms and agents play an important role in improving China's patent quality, sharpening company competitiveness and accelerating transformation to an innovation-driven country," He said.

One of the 30 agent award winners, Dun Haizhou, general manager of Guangzhou Shenlihua IP Agent Ltd, told China Daily that the key to success in the industry is service quality.

Dun, who began practicing as a patent agent in 1996, said she is well aware of rising requirements in quality from her clients, mainly in the Pearl River Delta.

"They have shown more prudence when filing patent applications," she said. "They began to value documentation quality to obtain expanded protection."

Another winner, Cao Zuliang, director of the Wuxi Dawei Patent, Trademark Agency, said a deep understanding of technological expertise in various industries distinguishes IP professionals from ordinary attorneys.

"Without knowledge of related technologies, you cannot file high-quality patent documentation and will even fail to touch key issues when representing your clients in maintaining their rights in court," Cao said.

The industry veteran who began his practice in the 1980s said "just filing applications is far from enough".

"To grow full-fledged, an agent needs to go through all the legal procedures," he said.

Latest statistics from SIPO show that more than 8,000 people in some 900 agencies are practicing as patent agents in the country. At least 14,700 had passed qualification exams to be a patent agent by the end of October.

wangxin@chinadaily.com.cn