2012 Analysis Report of China’s Software Copyright Registration compiled by the Copyright Protection Center of China was published in Beijing on September 30. This is the second professional report issued by the software copyright registration office in the past 20 years since the implementation of software copyright registration system in China. The report indicated that there were more than 139,200 software copyright registrations in 2012, with 27.33% year-on-year growth and nearly 30,000 registrations.

According to the report, Beijing had a growth of 9,089 software copyright registrations last year, accounting for 30.41% of the total increase, and ranked first in China. As one of the major regions of software industry, the Eastern China registered 109,800 software copyrights which accounts for nearly 80% of the total registrations. The Central China had 12,800 registrations with a 35.37% year-on-year growth. The Central China and Western China are the fastest-growing regions, with 8% and 5% growth rate higher than that of the country as a whole. Besides, Ningxia Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, and Tibet Autonomous Region, which had rather few registrations traditionally, doubled their number last year.

It is also shown in the report that there were 1,946 registrations of cloud-based software, with a year-on-year growth of 118.65%. The number of game software also grew continuously with 6,907 registrations, increased by 1,460 comparing with the year before. Among them, 1,739 were mobile game software, with a year-on-year growth of 74%.

The reporter learned that the registration of software copyright played an important role in identifying ownership, avoiding disputes, guaranteeing trade security and reducing litigation cost since the implementation of the system. At present, enterprises are still the principal registrants of software copyrights. Last year, enterprises registered 119,600 software copyrights, accounting for 85.91% of the total number.

In the first eight month of 2013, there were 93,894 software copyrights registered in China, with a year-on-year increase of 12.88%.

According to the statistics issued by the Copyright Protection Center of China, from January to August of 2013, Eastern China registered 71,548 software copyrights, accounting for 76.20% of the total amount of China; Central China registered 9,466 copyrights, accounting for 10.08%; Western China registered 9,766 copyrights, accounting for 10.40%; and Northeast China registered 2,944 copyrights, accounting for 3.14%. The top 5 regions based on the number of registrations are Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang, with 61,928 software copyrights altogether. Among those, Beijing accounted for 24.10% with 22,625 registrations.

Date: October 10, 2013        

Source: State Intellectual Property Office