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@article{188618,
        author = {Rahul Singh Rathore},
        title = {Quantity or Quality: Analysing Patent Filing Dynamics in China},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {7},
        pages = {2281-2289},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=188618},
        abstract = {China has held a dominant position in global patent activity for more than a decade, with the scale of its filings reshaping the landscape of intellectual property worldwide. China’s patent submissions exceeded those of every other country by a wide margin, and the country also led in complementary areas such as utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks. China’s rise to the top of international patent filings, including applications made through global mechanisms such as the PCT, reflects not only the expansion of its innovation ecosystem but also the influence of administrative and policy-driven incentives. Over time, the country’s patent culture became closely tied to performance-linked evaluations, institutional rankings, and eligibility criteria for high-tech status, resulting in an environment where quantitative growth became a strategic priority. The surge in applications, therefore, emerged less from breakthrough research and more from an incentive structure that rewarded filing behaviour itself. This dynamic has created a patent landscape characterized by impressive numerical strength, yet accompanied by ongoing debates about the depth, originality, and long-term value of the innovations represented in those filings. The Chinese experience highlights how national innovation systems can be shaped not only by technological capability but also by policy design, institutional incentives, and socio-economic motivations that drive organisations and individuals to treat patents as strategic tools rather than purely inventive outputs. Although India’s patenting activity has been steadily increasing, it remains significantly behind China in total volume. To close this gap, India needs to continue strengthening its R&D infrastructure, enhance incentives, raise IP awareness, and foster closer collaboration between universities and industry. In contrast, China’s massive patent output provides a structural advantage, but long-term benefits will depend on shifting from sheer quantity to high-quality, commercially impactful patents. For meaningful comparison or policy formulation, raw filing numbers should be evaluated alongside indicators such as grant rates, renewal and maintenance patterns, citation frequency, commercialization outcomes, and international filings. India’s upward trajectory is promising, but given structural and industrial differences, it should focus on domain-specific innovation and niche strengths such as biotechnology, green energy, and software prioritizing quality over quantity to maximize the impact of its intellectual property.},
        keywords = {Patent Filing, China, SIPO,WIPO},
        month = {December},
        }