BEIJING, Feb. 6 -- China was listed among the top 10 countries for patent applications for the first time in 2005, it was revealed on Friday.

    Standing ahead of Canada, Italy and Australia, China's applications increased by 44 per cent compared with the previous year, China News Service said, quoting statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

    The United States remained the biggest applicant with more than 45,000 items of inventions/creations, followed by Japan.

    The figure in China was recorded at 2,452, ranking it number 10 in the world, a climb of three places.

    WIPO said that China and Japan, together with their Asian neighbour, South Korea, maintained a strong growth in patent applications last year.

    In 2005, the total of patent applications to WIPO in the world was more than 130,000, according to the report.

    Although the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has not confirmed the WIPO's statistics, China witnessed a major growth of internal patent applications and approvals last year, in which enterprises played a leading role.

    In 2005, SIPO received more than 476,000 patent applications of inventions, utility models and lay-out designs, an increase of nearly 35 per cent on 2004. Domestic applicants accounted for 80 per cent of the figure.

    More than 214,000 inventions/creations were approved by the body, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year.

    "The annual growths of patent applications of inventions, utility models and lay-out designs have all been high in the last 18 years," said Zhang Qin, vice-director of SIPO.

    "The fast growth can be attributed to the country's policy of encouraging self-innovation," said Sun Pingping from SIPO.

    Enterprises have become the largest applicants in recent years, replacing those made by individuals. Patentees from academic or research institutes accounted for 12 per cent of the total number of applications submitted to SIPO last year.

    "During these years, the awareness of enterprises in protecting patent rights have awakened," Sun said. "Encouraged by the policy of self-innovation, enterprises, especially domestic ones, have put a strong emphasis on research and development."

    Guangdong Province in South China submitted the largest number of patent applications last year, with about 50 per cent of the total of 72,000 being approved.

    (Source: China Daily)