Apr. 22, 2008 (China Knowledge) - China's patent application filings reached 694,000 in 2007, up 21.1% from the previous year, announced the Information Office of the State Council in a press conference last week.

Of all the patent applications, filings on categories of inventions, applications and packing design were 245,000, 181,000 and 268,000, up 16.5%, 12.4% and 33% respectively from the previous years.

The number of patents filed under the World Intellectual Property Organization Patent Cooperation Treaty rose 41.2% to 5,401, which made China rank the seventh for patent applications, following the U.S., Japan, Germany, Korea, France and the UK.