With the establishment of the China Patent Office in 1980, China's patent work has developed continuously over 25 years. In April 1, 1985, the "Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" went into effect. Following that, China promulgated several patent-related laws and regulations, such as the "Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law," "Regulations on Patent Commissioning," "Procedures for the Administrative Enforcement of Laws Concerning Patents," and "Regulations on the Implementation of Customs Protection of Patent Rights." China has twice made revisions to the "Patent Law" in the light of the requirements of social and economic development so as to enable it to improve continuously.

By mainly relying on its own resources, China has established a relatively complete and independent patent examination system in a short period of time. On January 1, 1994, China became a member state of the "Patent Cooperation Treaty." The China Patent Office is China's agency dealing with cases involving the Patent Cooperation Treaty, performing international patent searches and preliminary examinations. Meanwhile, China has established a fairly comprehensive system for patent work. Relevant departments of the State Council and local governments have established patent administrative organs in accordance with the provisions of the "Patent Law." China now has more than 5,000 people working in patent agencies, and a service system mainly providing patent commissioning, patent information, patent technology transfer intermediary and patent technology evaluation services has taken initial shape.
 
China's patent work has realized leapfrogging development. From April 1, 1985 to the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office handled 2,284,925 patent applications with an average annual increase of 18.9 percent. Of these, 1,874,358 were domestic applications, and 410,567 came from other countries, accounting for 82 and 18 percent, respectively. Patent applications in China had exceeded two million by March 17, 2004. It took China 15 years for patent applications to reach one million. But it took only four years for the number to double. In 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office handled 353,807 applications, an increase of 14.7 percent over the previous year, which saw 308,487 applications. Of these, 278,943 were domestic applications, accounting for 78.8 percent of the total and an increase of 11 percent over the previous year, which saw 251,238 applications. Foreign applications numbered 74,864, accounting for 21.2 percent of the total and an increase of 30.8 percent over the previous year, which saw 57,249 applications. From 1994 to 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office handled, in total, 7,131 international applications for patent rights, of which 1,592 such applications were handled in 2004. International patent applications that entered China via the channel of the Patent Cooperation Treaty totaled 157,770. Of these, 32,438 applications were submitted in 2004.

By the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office had approved 1,255,499 patents. Of these, 1,093,268 were domestic ones, and 162,231 were from other countries, accounting for 87.1 and 12.9 percent of the total number of approved patents, respectively. The numbers of invention patents, utility model patents and exterior design patents that had been approved were 185,412, 651,224 and 418,863, accounting for 14.8, 51.9 and 33.3 percent respectively. In 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office approved 190,238 patents, an increase of 4.4 percent over the previous year, which had 182,226. It approved 151,328 domestic patents, an increase of 1.2 percent, compared with 149,588 in the previous year. At the same time, it approved 38,910 foreign patents, an increase of 19.2 percent over the previous year, which saw 32,638.

The "Regulations on the Protection of Layout Design of Integrated Circuits" went into effect in China on October 1, 2001. By the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office had received 682 applications for the registration of layout design of integrated circuits. It registered 571 of them, and issued related public notices as well as certificates to the applicants. In 2004 alone, the State Intellectual Property Office received 244 applications for the registration of layout design of integrated circuits. It registered 205 of them, and issued related public notices as well as certificates to the applicants.

In recent years, patent administration departments at all levels have strengthened administrative enforcement of the law in this respect. In particular, they have launched crackdowns on infringements of patent rights of food and medicines, which are closely connected with people's health and lives. They have made great efforts to investigate and deal with cases that infringe upon the patent rights of key technologies and cases that had widespread repercussions. They have also conscientiously investigated and dealt with infringements and counterfeits of patent rights of inventions, utility models and exterior designs. Following the State Council's unified plan, in August 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office issued the "Work Program on Strengthening Enforcement of the Laws on Intellectual Property Rights and Launching a Special Law Enforcement Campaign." All subsidiary departments under the State Intellectual Property Office were mobilized to participate in the campaign. By the end of that year, local intellectual property offices had checked 10,251 industrial venues and examined 2,081,537 commodity items. By the end of 2004, local patent administration departments across the country had accepted 12,058 cases involving patent infringement and patent disputes, and 10,411 of the cases, or 86.3 percent, were resolved. In 2004, local patent administration departments accepted 1,455 cases involving patent disputes, and 1,215 of them were resolved. They also dealt with 3,965 cases of patent counterfeits, and 358 cases of unauthorized use of others' patents.