China granted 268,000 patent rights in 2006, 80 percent of which are owned by enterprises registered in China, patent authorities reported on Monday.

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received 573,000 patent applications in 2006, and 47.8 percent of them were granted national patent rights, an increase of 25.2 percent over the previous year, said SIPO.

Of the three types of patent rights -- inventions, new technology and design, patents relating to inventions accounted for 57,786 of the patents granted, an increase of 8.4 percent year-on-year.

An official with SIPO told Xinhua that since last year enterprises registered in China filed the most patent applications.

Patent applications from foreign-invested companies have risen rapidly in China. Some have even applied for more patents in China than they have in their own countries, showing their increasing confidence in China's patent system and protection of intellectual property rights, according to SIPO.

Most patents were granted to applicants from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning, Tianjin, Hubei and Sichuan last year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)