Question:

How many patent attorneys and patent agencies are there in China? How many patent applications were filed through patent agencies in 2012?

Answer:

According to statistics from the All-China Patent Agents Association (http://www.acpaa.cn/list_hygl.asp?news_id=2876), China had 919 patent agencies and 7,993 practising patent attorneys as of February 28, 2013.

In 2012, 2,051,000 patent applications were filed in China. Of these, 1,212,940 were filed through patent agencies, representing 59% of the total.