Statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), China's top intellectual property watchdog, show that only 0.03 percent of Chinese enterprises own key technologies on which they have intellectual property rights.

An SIPO source said that 99 percent of Chinese enterprises have never applied for patents and 60 percent do not have their own trademarks.

SIPO Officials said China established an intellectual property legal system as well as a law enforcement mechanism two decades ago and it now ranks the first in the world in terms of the number of trademark applications and patent applications for utility model and design.

But China still lags behind in terms of the number and quality of intellectual property rights, they said.

While China ranks the third in foreign trade volume, patented high technologies contribute only 2 percent of its total foreign trade volume.

In 2004, China received 130,000 applications for invention patents, half of which are from multinationals headquartered in developed countries.

About 18 percent of patent applications from Chinese companies and individuals are for inventions while 86 percent from foreign companies are for invention patents.

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2006)