It took a decade and a half from 1985 to 2000 for China to register its first million patent applications, a figure it easily surpassed last year alone when 1.22 million applications were filed, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). The number of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs rose 25% last year from the 980,000 filed in 2009. SIPO granted 815,000 patents last year, an increase of 40% over 2009. The continuing rise in patent applications shows the national intellectual property strategy begun in 2008 has promoted growth in innovation, SIPO’s Vice Commissioner Bao Hong said. Invention patents, which have the most stringent requirements and are seen as a major index to evaluate innovation, rose 27.9% to 293,000. Almost 75% were filed by domestic applicants. Patent filings from abroad rose 15.3% last year to 98,000 applications, a stark contrast with the 10.9% drop in 2009. An average overseas invention patent contains 17 claims for rights — a measure of the scope of creation — while the average domestic filing has six. International filings from China through the Patent Cooperation Treaty totaled about 13,000 applications in 2010, a sharp increase of 61.3% over 2009, the China Daily reports.