China's patent applications surge 22%

BEIJING - China's State Intellectual Property Office said Friday it received 1.88 million patent applications in the first three quarters of 2015, up 22 percent from a year ago.

The data showed that patent applications for inventions surged 21.7 percent to 709,000, of which 99,000 were from abroad, up 5.1 percent year on year.

In the first nine months of this year, the office authorized 1.18 million patents, up 25.8 percent year on year, and patents granted for inventions soared 46 percent to 248,000, according to the office.