Intellectual property right protection has witnessed success in the 167 central state-owned enterprises in the past five years, said Li Rongrong, Director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

Patent application of the central SOEs increased by 28 percent annually from 2000 to 2005. As a result, the central SOEs possess 30,520 patents at present, Li said at a conference on SOE innovation which closed on Sunday.

In 2005, the central SOEs applied for 10,031 patents. Up to 4,948 patents were accredited in the year, including 1,657 inventive ones, according to Li.

PetroChina, one of the three state-owned oil producers of China, applied for 1,037 patents, 726 of which were accredited in 2005.

In February, 80 central SOEs signed proposals, promising to refuse pirated software and protect intellectual property right. This showed the central SOEs' active attitude in intellectual property right protection, Li said, urging the SOEs to keep their promise.

He also pointed out that the legal environment to facilitate the production and transfer of intellectual property right has not been set up in China yet.

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