China National Intellectual Property Administration



The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA; ) is the patent and trademark office and primary intellectual property regulator of the People's Republic of China.

Naming
The agency was founded in 1980 as the Patent Office of the People's Republic of China, before changing its name to State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) then to "National Intellectual Property Administration," and, in 2018, to "China National Intellectual Property Administration".

History
SIPO established a database of patents granted for traditional Chinese medicine.

As SIPO, the institution became the world's largest patent office in 2011.

To streamline the patent application process for patentees filing under both the Chinese and United States systems, SIPO and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program on December 1, 2011.