On January 18^th, the SAIC held a news conference on the development of national market participation, market regulation and consumer protection. In 2016, market participation retained its booming nationwide momentum -- by the end of the year, over 80 million entities existed in various markets in China, and an average of 45,100 new entities were registered each day. Joint punishment of dishonest behavior has been effective in ensuring a stable and orderly environment for market development.

   In 2016, 2,691,000 trademark applications were filed, representing an annual increase of 28.4%, a growth rate that exceeded the previous year’s growth rate by 1.5%. Online applications increased rapidly to 3,001,000 cases, or 81.3% of the total number and 12% higher than the previous year. By the end of 2016, 12,376,000 trademarks had been effectively registered. The number of trademarks per 10,000 market entities reached 1,422, an increase of 6.5% over the 1,335 recorded in 2015. The total number of trademark pledges exploded -- in 2016, 1,410 applications for pledge registration were processed, representing an annual increase of 20%. The SAID assisted businesses in raising capital amounting to 64.99 billion RMB, representing an annual increase of 90%.

   2016 witnessed 156,000 applications for review in all categories, 13,000 cases per month and an annual increase of 32.8%. Among these applications, 131,000d applications for review of rejected trademarks were filed, representing an annual increase of 31.3%, and 26,000 applications for complex cases involving two parties were filed, representing an annual growth of 40.9%.

   IPR infringement issues remained serious. IP cases punished under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Trademark Law reached 34,000, a figure that accounted for 6.6% of all violations of economic statutes and regulations (a proportion that continues to rise).

Via the SAIC