The China National Intellectual Property Administration recently approved the establishment of a national intellectual property rights protection center in Anji county, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

The facility in Anji will offer services related to IP rights authorization, approval and protection for market entities in the green household industry in the county.

The green household sector is a traditional pillar industry in Anji. In 2020, a total of 1,501 appearance patents were registered in the county, among which 1,013 were from the green household sector.

The center, the first of its kind in Huzhou, is expected to incentivize innovation among enterprises in the sector as it fulfills their demands for patent examination and confirmation and greatly reduces the time and costs to safeguard IP rights protection.

With the new center, the time required to obtain IP rights authorization can be shortened from the current 2 months to less than 15 days, said a head official from Anji market supervision bureau.

In addition, the center will help local enterprises better safeguard IP rights as it will establish a one-stop platform offering solutions for patent disputes.

Statistics show that from 2017 to 2020, Anji's judicial and administrative authorities handled more than 280 patent dispute cases.