In 2006, Japan applied for 37,848 patents in China, more than any other country has. Half of the ten top foreign enterprises filing patent applications in China were Japanese companies.

According to the figures released by Li Mingliang, head of the Beijing Technology Market Administration Office, the US followed Japan with 23,494 patent applications in China last year. The ROK (South Korea) ranked third in terms of the number of patent applications in China.

South Korea's Samsung filed more patent applications in China than any other foreign company. This amounted to 4,355 applications in 2006.

Five of the top ten foreign companies were Japanese businesses. Two of them were from South Korea. Other companies filing applications came from the Netherlands, the US, and Germany.

International applications accounted for 19.7 percent of total patent applications that were granted by the State Intellectual Property Office of China last year. The Office authorized 268.002 patents in 2006, an increase of 25.2 percent more than in 2005.

By People's Daily Online