China received more than 153,000 domestic invention patent applications in 2007, up 25 percent over 2006, a top Chinese official of intellectual property rights said here on Tuesday.

Director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) Tian Lipu said foreign invention patent applications reached 92,000 in 2007, up 4.5 percent over the previous year.

"Domestic patent applications for inventions accounted for 62.4 percent of the total invention patent applications accepted by SIPO in 2007 while only 37.6 percent were from overseas." Tian said at an annual meeting of ISPO.

He said the proportion between domestic and foreign patent applications for inventions were four to six in early 1990s and half-half in 2003.

"It indicates that China's self-innovation capability is increasing and the quality of domestic patent applications is improving." Tian said.

He noted that enterprises were playing a major role in China's technological innovation with their patent applications for inventions in 2007 increased by 29 percent over the previous year.

PCT applications in China also increased to 5,401 in 2007, up 38 percent year-on-year, according to Tian.

"It shows that the patent mechanism is playing a positive role in encouraging invention and promoting technical innovation in China, and the Chinese people's awareness of patent protection has been enhanced," Tian said.

SIPO accepted 694,153 patent applications in 2007, up 21.1 over the previous year. Among them, 245,161 were invention patents, up 16.5 percent and 181,324 were designs patents, up 12.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2008)