In 2013, European Patent Office granted a total of 66,700 European patents, with an increase of 1.6% compared to 2012, also a record high. Chinese companies were awarded a total of 941 patents, an increase of 19% compared to 2012.

Chinese enterprises have impressive performance in the European patent application. The report states that in 2013, Chinese companies submitted a total of 22,292 patent applications in Europe, ranking fourth in terms of quantity, and accounting for 8.4% of all the applications. Over the past 10 years, China has the fastest growth in the number of patent applications, with an average annual growth rate of 31.6%. In the field of digital communications technology, about 15% of patent applications are from Chinese companies.

The data also show that in 2013, international patent applications worldwide through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are 205,000, an increase of 5.1%, which is a record high. United States (57,239), Japan (43,918), Chinese (21,516), Germany (17,927) and South Korea (12,386) are the top five respectively. China ranks the third, which for the first time surpasses Germany; accounting for 10.5% of the global total, with an increase of nearly 1 percent against 2012. In the corporate patent applications, ZTE Corporation relegated Panasonic (2,881) with 2,309 published PCT international patent applications, ranking second in the world; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ranked the third with 2,094, one rank higher compared to last year.

According to joint decision by State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C and Korean Industrial Property Office, China-South Korea PPH pilot will be extended for two years with effect from March 1, 2014 and ending on February 29, 2016.

According to joint decision by State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C and Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, China-Mexico PPH pilot will be extended indefinitely since March 1, 2014.

According to joint decision by State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C and Austrian Patent Office, China-Austrian PPH pilot will be extended for two years with effect from March 1, 2014 and ending on February 29, 2016.

It is reported that State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C started Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot with Korean Industrial Property Office on March 1, 2012, with Mexican Institute of Industrial Property Office and Austrian Patent Office on March 1, 2013 respectively, and the three PPH pilots ended on February 28, 2014.

According to reports, the World Intellectual Property Organization of China Office has already begun choosing its location in Beijing, which is expected to formally run this year. The office settled in Beijing will create favorable conditions for Beijing enterprises to go abroad.

World Intellectual Property Organization noted that over the past year, total applications submitted through Patent Cooperation Treaty reached 205,300, with an increase of 5.1% compared to 2012. Among them, the U.S., China and Sweden are showing double-digit growth, and the United States hit the fastest growth of the country since 2011. United States and China accounted for 56% and 29% respectively of the total increment of Patent Cooperation Treaty applications.

In 2013, the total number of patent applications in the United States exceeded 57,200, more than the record high of 54,046 applications reached before the global financial crisis in 2007. China surpasses Germany to become the third largest user of Patent Cooperation Treaty system, while Japan is the second largest user. U.S. is still the most active user of the system.

Secretary of Anti-monopoly Bureau- Shang Ming said the Ministry of Commerce is currently working on amendments to Rules on Business Concentration Review and will develop package measures for Provisional Regulations on Applicable Standards for Simple Business Concentration Cases, and promote the introduction of Provisions on Additional Restrictive Conditions on Business Concentration.

The Regulations pays more attention to the establishment of a system protected and promoted by the whole society, and the formation of development pattern jointly protected and promoted by relevant social subjects like administrative departments, rights-holder and trade associations.

Article 39 of the Regulations clearly states that the unit awarded a patent shall give incentives and rewards to the inventor, designer of the invention, and related staff for patent management, technology transfer in accordance with the regulations and agreements. Incentives and rewards can be paid in cash, return on equity or other forms agreed by the parties. The Regulations clearly regulates that "where the unit transfered and licensed patents, (incentives and rewards shall) not less than 20% of net income of transfer fees and licensing fees”; in case of granting shares for the patent, "not less than 20% of the shares or equity income".

It is reported that ZTE has consecutively won two final rulings within two months in the investigations of the United States 337, which is called "the most severe trade restrictions". By the end of 2013, ITC made a final ruling against InterDigital case, who is known as "patent predator" in the U.S. with nearly 20,000 patents, that ZTE did not violate InterDigital's patents.

The plaintiff of the final ruling- TPL was originally engaged in chip technology research, and turned into a company for patent-operation in recent years, with revenues mainly from patent licensing and litigation compensation. In July, 2012, TPL launched the investigation against ZTE in ITC.

Zhou Qiang, the director of Supreme People's Court, said that, in 2013, the Supreme People's Court strengthened trial work of intellectual property rights, with 100,000 first instances of intellectual property cases concluded by courts at all levels. He noted that in 2014, people's courts should actively and steadily push forward the reform of the judiciary, promoting the establishment of IPR courts and resource environment trial institutions.

Cao Jianming, the director of Supreme People's Procuratorate, said prosecutors in 2013 took an active role in serving economic development, protecting implementation of innovation-driven development strategies and improving IPR judicial protection. He noted that in 2014, the prosecution will improve the crackdown of crime in food and drugs, intellectual property protection and other areas.

In the past decade, Unitalen has been consistently practicing its commitment that "building a Hope Primary School every year", to give back to the community with real action. In the past decade, Unitalen has established a good partnership with China Youth Development Foundation, to improve China’s education infrastructure in rural areas and the learning environment for rural youth.

Listed as long-term cooperation partners by China Youth Development Foundation include more than 50 enterprises and units such as Microsoft, Toshiba, FAW TOYOTA, Samsung, Coca-Cola, State Grid and Kweichow Moutai.

Unitalen has been cooperating with Lenovo for many years, who become good partners based on Unitalen’s professional services and Lenovo’s trust and support.

Unitalen cherishes the trust of every client, and we will redouble our efforts to provide enterprises with more professional and high-quality intellectual property services.

On August 30, 2013, the fourth meeting of the Twelfth National People's Congress Standing Committee passed a decision on revising the Trademark Law of PRC. To tie in with the new Trademark Law in 2014, the Review and Adjudication Board of State Administration for Industry and Trademark jointly developed Trademark Review and Adjudication Rules (Draft) and solicited the views of the community.

As a well-known large-scale intellectual property agency, Unitalen was invited as one of the representative members. Zhao Lei, having more than ten years of solid professional knowledge and practical experience in trademark, discussed and exchanged relevant issues with participants as a representative of Unitalen.