Likely bolstered by government incentives, China surpassed the U.S. and Japan to file more patents in 2011 than any other country, according to a Dec. 21, 2011, Thomson Reuters report. From 2006 to 2010, filings rose by an average of 16.7 percent annually.
That’s not bad for a country that only adopted its first IP law in 1984—a couple centuries after the first U.S. Patent Act became law. But China still has a long way to go before patent owners feel confident that their rights will be adequately protected in the country.
