The time taken to review trademark filings will continue to shorten as part of ongoing reforms, according to a plan released by the State Intellectual Property Office at a recent news conference.

The processing period for new trademark applications will shorten to six months by the end of the year and will be further slashed to four months by 2020, according to SIPO's three-year reform plans.

The number of trademarks filed in China last year reached 5.75 million, up 55.7 percent from 2016, said Chen Wentong, deputy director of the country's trademark office.

Over the past five years, trademark applications in China have increased at an average annual rate of 29 percent, Chen said.

"The large trademark stockpile and the increasing number of filings require increased efficiency in processing applications and improved digitalization in our work."

According to the reform plans, SIPO will increase technological support for intelligent information retrieval and optimize its online application system.

In addition, the organization plans to link its trademark database with companies' legal departments. The trademark database will be open to the public before year-end.

With access to online services, trademark applicants will be able to submit all their materials over the internet and receive reminders via email, text messages and SIPO's online service platform at the end of this year.

Since 2016, the trademark office has strived to change traditional registration procedures by promoting end-to-end online services that cover the whole application process, Chen said.

Last year, the trademark office began to cooperate with Chinese internet technology giant NetEase to carry out a pilot program for online applications.

The process involved sending acceptance and preliminary examination notices to 100 trademark agencies through a public platform. The program expanded to 500 agencies in February.

"This cooperation has reduced the time taken to process and register trademarks, resulting in a good response from society," Chen said.

In 2017, overall satisfaction with IP protection reached 76.69 percent, up 4.31 percentage points from 2016, according to Zhang Zhicheng, director of the protection and coordination department at SIPO.

"With the founding of a comprehensive law enforcement team for market supervision, IP protection in the country is advancing, and the business and consumer environment will continue to improve," Zhang said.（By Liang Kaiyan | China Daily）

（编辑：孙雅曼 高云翔，编校：崔静思，审读：蔡莹，美编：李羽）