China approved 58,000 patents last year, with more than half being granted to foreigners, the State Intellectual Property Offices (SIPO) said Tuesday.

Applicants from overseas filed 33,000, or 56.6 percent of all patents, said SIPO spokesman Yin Xintian.

The rising of patent applications from overseas show that China's market is drawing the attention of other countries since China's entry into the World Trade Organization, said Yin.

SIPO director Tian Lipu said although China has granted a large number of intellectual property rights (IPR), domestic IPR competitiveness and innovation capability is still far behind those of developed countries.

About 99 percent of Chinese companies never apply for patents, said Tian.

Research and development investment of large and medium-sized corporations accounted for 0.71 percent of their annual turnover on average, much lower than the average five percent in developed countries.

"Domestic companies should strengthen their IPR awareness, continue to improve their innovative capacities and be active in patent applications both at home and abroad," he said.

Source: Xinhua