DALIAN -- Applications for trademark registration in China increased 10.6 percent in the first four months from a year earlier and will maintain fast growth, a government official said on Friday.

Data showed that the country had 6.4 million registered trademarks by the end of 2012, ranking it first in the world.

However, "Only a few of them are of international competitiveness and world influence," said Liu Junchen, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce.

Since the country's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, the annual number of applications reached nearly 1.65 million by the end of 2012, from 20,800 at the end of 1983.

Liu said China needs a number of competitive world-famous trademarks and a market environment for fair competition to become "a great power of trademarks," adding that the authorities will continue to support enterprises in seeking international registration of their trademarks.

Meanwhile, the country will continue to clamp down on trademark violations, he said.