It is known that the application numbers of utility models in China is dramatically increasing in recent years. The numbers of utility model applications in Year 2011 was 585,527. The numbers of utility model application in Year 2015 reached 1,127,577 which is nearly doubled compared with the numbers in Year 2011. The application numbers of utility models in China still keeps the growth tread in Year 2016.

Moreover, the quality of utility models in China was also steadily improved. During the “Twelfth Five-year Plan” period, a large numbers of utility models of high quality and high value emerged in China. And among them, 8 utility models were awarded “China Patent Gold Award”, and 95 utility models were awarded “China Patent Excellence Award”.

According to the Report on Survey Data concerning Chinese Patents released by SIPO in July 2016, the percentage of license and assignment among all the valid utility models in China is 9.3% and 5.3% respectively. The implementation rate of all the valid utility models in China is 59%. The percentage of the utility models used in actual production and business among all valid utility models in China is 47.6%. These data shows that utility models in China enjoy high utilization level, and tangibly create value to innovators. Also in practice, it continuously appears those utility models as “micro patents” playing a macro value. For example, the utility model owned by SHENZHEN YEKALON concerning floor lock catch technology once survived from 337 Investigation instituted by USITC, and finally took hold in the furious international competition. And its patented technology also becomes one of the three core patented technology in the field of floor lock catches worldwide.

Date: October 18, 2016
Source: SIPO