All right, first off I should say that I am a skeptic when it comes to China stats, and that includes IP registration and enforcement statistics. These numbers are often way off, and those that are fairly accurate may not even present a coherent message.

With that in mind, I almost never push the official press releases on IP stats. Kind of a waste of time.

I am allowing an exception today for the following:

In 2008, State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) accepted 828,328 patent applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs and granted 411,982. The patent application and authorization in 2008 has four characteristics.

First, the quantity of patent applications maintained steady and rapid growth. In 2008, the patent applications have increased by 19.4%. In particular, invention applications gained an increase of 27.1%, becoming the driving force.

Second, more and more enterprises apply for patents. In 2008, 40,500 domestic enterprises have applied patents, with an increase of 23.9%. Enterprises have enhanced the awareness of patent protection and improved patent creation and utilization ability. A group of highly competitive enterprises have formed.

Third, the structure of domestic patent application and authorization has been optimized. The proportion of invention patent application has increased, and the invention patent authorization at home and abroad has been balanced.

Fourth, invention patent applications in technology field have grown rapidly. The domestic patent applications in areas such as environmental technology, communication, chemical engineering, transport and medical technology have surpassed foreign applications.

Why the interest in this? Might these numbers be suspect? Absolutely, but they do reinforce a theme, and are therefore worth talking about.

Of the issues noted in the article, the aggregate numbers of applications are not worth a mention. Without knowing the quality of these patents, the aggregate figure doesn’t really tell you anything.

Next, more enterprises are filing. Granted, this might mean a lot of companies are filing junk patents. On the other hand, even if the IP is suspect, I tend to think that the more companies that get involved in the IP biz, the better. A positive trend either way.

More invention patents as a percentage of total patent filings. If this is accurate, it’s a big deal. Patent apps are subject to substantive examination by SIPO (i.e. not junk). This is what the government wants to see to kick-start the innovation society. Another positive trend.

Patents in certain types of high-tech industries. If you’re into the whole industrial policy thing (I’m a big supporter), this is also a positive trend. China has a list of industries it wants to see develop over the next 20 years, and the leading edge of this development (or perhaps "second wave" is a better term, following a period of inward licensing by foreign firms) is domestic innovation.

Before I start painting rainbows on the walls and breaking into song, let’s end with a reality check. I always wonder if these numbers are pumped up, to a certain extent, by political/economic pressure. In many cases, the government will grant all kinds of breaks to domestic enterprises that are filing patents. Incentives are good, but they can also be market distortive, with incentive leading companies that have no intention (or ability) to commercialize IP to go out and file.