Ningbo designated pilot city for settlement of IP disputes

Ningbo was recently included in a national pilot program for the rapid settlement of intellectual property disputes, local media reported.

The city is the only city in East China's Zhejiang province that has been included in the program.

The pilot program will see the city take measures to reduce the time required for administrative adjudication cases from the current three months to one.

Acceptance opinions will be issued by local intellectual property rights protection center within five working days after it receives cases related to intellectual property disputes overseas. Cases can be filed by enterprises through online and offline channels.

The city's improved efficiency in resolving intellectual property disputes is expected to bolster the confidence of local market entities and further stimulate local innovation, noted experts.

In a report released in June, Ningbo was again ranked first among 157 sub-provincial cities and prefecture-level cities in a national appraisal for administrative protection for intellectual property rights in 2021. This is the second year in a row that the city has topped the ranking.

A total of 55,069 patents were authorized in Ningbo in the first 10 months of 2021, up 8.91 percent year-on-year. The number of invention patents rose 55.02 percent year-on-year to 6,503, bringing the total number of valid invention patents owned by the city to 37,041, which means there are 39.4 invention patents for every 10,000 residents.