Per statistics released by China’s Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on April 15, 2025, Chinese invention patent grants are down 20.99% in the first quarter of 2025 versus the first quarter of 2024. Specifically, the number of invention patents granted decreased by 52,870 to 199,012 grants. Utility model grants also dropped slightly by 2.33% year-on-year to 408,419 grants (down by 11,032 grants). However, design patent grants increased by 10.11% year-on-year to 161,058 grants (up by 14,788 grants). The number of trademark registrations from January to March 2025 decreased by 193,996 compared with that in 2024 (a year-on-year decrease of 14.97%).
CNIPA did not provide any reasons for the drop in invention patent grants but may be related to China’s push for quality over quantity including:
- the end of subsidies for patent grants in 2025;
- the continuing crackdown on “abnormal” patent applications; and
- setting a goal for high-value patents per 10,000 people (instead of only patents per 10,000 people).
In addition, the decrease in trademark and patent grants may be related to a slowdown in China’s economy although grants would be a lagging indicator.
Note though per CNIPA’s 2025 budget, CNIPA is expect over 5 million patent application filings this year and to examine over 2 million invention patent applications.
The full data set is available here: 2025年3月国家知识产权局审查注册登记统计月报（外部版) (Chinese only).