The State Intellectual Property Office identified Suzhou as a national IP demonstration city on August 3 for its remarkable contribution to IPR development.

In the first half of 2012, the city saw its patent applications and grants hit 60,597 and 38,104 respectively, up 39.4% and 26% on a year-on-year basis, in which those for inventions increased by 59% and 71.7% separately.

Over the past three years, the city's IPR system has been established and improved, leading to a booming IPR growth. In 2011 alone, patent applications and grants in the city recorded 102,164 and 77,281, topping all the other large and medium-sized cities across the country. Among them, applications and grants on inventions amounted to 21,765 and 2,492, ranking the fourth and tenth among its peers in China.

In addition, as of the end of 2011, the city has held a total of 84,000 registered trademarks, in which Chinese Well-known Trademarks reached up to 58 and Jiangsu Famous Trademarks to 495.

Meanwhile, two leading enterprises in the city have been recognized as national IP exemplary entities and an IP enforcement team was established by the municipal IPO to tackle IP violations.

Furthermore, the city set a potential target for its IP development that by 2015, the annual growth rate of its invention patent applications will reach 20%; invention patent grants will hit up to 5,500, international patent applications to 500, invention patents owned by every ten thousand residents to 15, annual registered trademarks to 10,000, gross registered trademarks to 120,000, Chinese Well-known Trademarks and Suzhou Famous Trademarks to 75 and 550, the annual growth rate of international registered trademarks to 30%, annual registered copyrights to 20,000 pieces with 4,000 of them on computer software.

（Source: IPR in China）