China sets up first state-level regional patent information service center

China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) inaugurated the country's first state-level regional patent information service center in Luogang District, Guangzhou city of Guangdong Province on April 10.

The Guangzhou center, whose construction took more than a year to complete, will mainly serve government agencies, companies, and public institutions in nine provinces and autonomous regions in the pan-Pearl River Delta, and greatly improve patent information services in the region.

The center is the first of a series of five experimental regional patent information service centers to be built in the country. The center undertakes the tasks of optimizing resource allocation, exploring high-end services, bringing together professionals, strengthening technical support, and conducting integrated and coordinated management.

Tao Kaiyuan, director of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office, said that the Guangzhou center integrates various patent information resources from SIPO and the nine provinces and autonomous regions in the pan-Pearl River Delta, including Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. It will provide both public and commercial services for the nine provinces and autonomous regions in an integrated manner.