BEIJING, April 7 -- In 2008, nearly 700,000 trademark applications were submitted in China, marking the seventh consecutive year that the country has ranked first in the world for number of applications. This is according to information from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Inter-Regional High-Level Forum on Intellectual Property recently held in Beijing.

    The State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) handled a total of over 17,000 trademark applications under the Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks in 2008, up 4.9 percent compared to the previous year and ranking first in the world for four years in a row. The cumulative number of such trademark applications reached more than 130,000.

    The SAIC is also making progress in international trademarks protection. Prior to 1979, 20 countries and regions had come and registered trademarks in China. The number increased to over 130 by the end of 2008, with the cumulative number of registered trademarks reaching over 530,000, more than 100-fold increase from 30 years ago.

    (Source: People's Daily Online)