China's inventory of valid invention patents reached nearly 4.76 million in 2024, with a significant increase in both the quantity and quality of intellectual property (IP) assets, the National Intellectual Property Administration said on Tuesday. In 2024, the number of valid invention patents in China's strategic emerging industries rose to around 1.35 million, up 15.7 percent year on year, according to the administration at the National Conference of Directors of Intellectual Property Offices held in Beijing. Meanwhile, the country remained one of the largest contributors to global patent applications. It ranked among the first worldwide in terms of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) international patent applications, Madrid System international trademark applications, and design filings under the Hague System.
China has made significant progress in IP review efficiency thanks to the adoption of AI technology known as multimodal large models. By employing these models in the review process, the average examination time for invention patents has been shortened to 15.5 months, while the average review time for trademark registrations stands at four months, both the fastest levels under comparable systems internationally.
The country moved up to 11th in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s 2024 Global Innovation Index, while the number of top 100 global sci-tech clusters within China reached 26, topping all countries for the second consecutive year.
Achievements have also been made in effective utilization of IP assets. From January to November 2024, the country's total trade volume of IP royalties expanded 6.6 percent year on year to reach more than 356 billion yuan (about 48 billion U.S. dollars).
China has been advancing a nationwide initiative to promote patent commercialization. Over 2,700 universities and research institutions across the country have completed the inventory and value analysis of 1.35 million patents in stock, creating a transferable patent resource pool and establishing targeted connections with 450,000 companies.
In 2024, a total of 613,000 patent ownership transfer licenses were filed nationwide, a 29.9 percent increase compared to the previous year.
China's valid invention patents hit nearly 4.76 mln in 2024
Axis powers during World War II should offer sincere reflection and apology, a Greek mayor said after Greece successfully repatriated a rare collection of 262 World War II-era photographs.
Greek officials traveled to Belgium to negotiate with the seller and brought the photographs back to Greece, after they were put up for sale online by a Belgian collector, said the Greek Culture Ministry.
The images were taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Heuer, who served in Greece from 1943 to 1944, during World War II, and part of the collection documents the mass execution of Greek communists by Nazi troops in Kaisariani, east of Athens.
During World War II, German occupation in Greece met with fierce resistance. On May 1, 1944, German forces executed 200 Greeks at the Kaisariani firing range in retaliation for the killing of a German general by resistance fighters.
A memorial and a museum were set up after the war in Kaisariani to commemorate those who died in the mass execution.
"The photos really shocked us all because they were real documents from the day of the execution. We are shocked for many reasons. An important reason is that the 200 communists were singing with their heads held high before the execution in the photos, and they were not mourning because they were fighters," said Ilias Stamelos, mayor of Kaisariani.
The newly recovered photographs have drawn renewed attention to the historical trauma still felt in the community, as the images provide a direct visual record of the final moments of those executed.
In 1987, then German President Richard von Weizsaecker visited Greece and made a special stop in Kaisariani, reflecting on the profound suffering inflicted on the Greek people by Germany during World War II.
Ilias said that, like Germany, Japan, another Axis power during the war, should also be held accountable for the massive harm it caused to multiple countries and should offer sincere reflection and apology for its wartime aggression.
"And I think it's a common demand, because those responsible for the deaths in the World War II need to pay for what happened. It's known to all that back then it was Germany, Japan and Italy, the allies in this war, that each played different roles in the war, yet they do have common responsibilities," said the mayor.
Historic photos of Nazi mass execution of Greeks returned to Greece, mayor calls for historical accountability
