Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said Wednesday that China needs to make more efforts to better protect intellectual property.

In the past two decades China established an intellectual property legal system as well as a law enforcement mechanism which embodies judiciary and administrative ethics, Tian said.

In 2004, he continued, China received 588,000 trademark applications as well as 110,000 patent applications for utility model and design each.

In knowledge-oriented economy, only innovative capabilities can improve the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises, he said.

Last year China received 130,000 applications for invention patents, half of which are from multinationals headquartered in developed countries.

Statistics showed that patent applications from American enterprises in 2005 will exceed 20,000. Companies from developed countries occupied 93 percent of patent applications in electronic transmission, 91 percent of mobile telecommunication, 90 percent in audio and visual technologies, 85 percent in semiconductors, 69 percent in pharmaceuticals and 60 percent in computing technologies.

Tian said 18 percent of patent applications from China are for inventions while 86 percent from foreign companies are for invention patents.

He said that only 0.03 percent of Chinese enterprises own key technologies with intellectual property. 99 percent of enterprises have never applied for patents and 60 percent do not have their own trademarks.

While China is ranked third in foreign trade, patented high technologies contribute only two percent of the total foreign trade volume.

"We need to encourage more Chinese enterprises, especially key state businesses, to sharpen their competitiveness by ensuring intellectual property."

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2005)