China should brush up on intellectual property (IP) protection to propel innovation-led economic growth, as this would encourage higher quality patent filings, according to an international law firm.
The Chinese mainland set a record in patent applications in 2015, becoming the first economy in the world to file more than 1 million patent applications in a single year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said last month.
But, international law firm DLA Piper Partner Edward Chatterton cautioned that the number of patent filings is not the sole benchmark in measuring the mainland's innovative capability.
According to WIPO, Chinese enterprises lodged 42,000 patent applications outside its borders, with most filed domestically. This compared to 238,000 overseas patent applications by US companies, with China also lagging behind Japan and South Korea.
Another weakness of China's patent applications is that any income generated is often not related to IP protection.
Chatterton said much more needs to be done in relation to IP protection in China.

Source: China Daily