China has overtaken Germany in the global ranking of patent applications to become the fifth- largest source of filings, underscoring an increasing prominence of Asian industrial powers in intellectual property.

　　In its first comprehensive report on patent activity, published today, the World Intellectual Property Organisation found China had a sevenfold increase in patent filings in 10 years.

　　Wipo, a UN agency, ranked Japan top of the patent league, followed by the US, the European Patent Office and South Korea. With China these patent offices accounted for three-quarters of all patents filed in 2004, the latest year for which comprehensive figures are available. Germany, a traditional source of patent applications, ranked sixth.

　　The report shows patent filings have increased in line with economic growth over the past 20 years, almost doubling to 1.6m globally in 2004. More than 5.4m patents were in force that year.

　　Filings in north-east Asia in particular have boomed as first South Korea and then China have become major industrial economies. Although Taiwan does not feature in the report because it is not eligible to join Wipo, officials said it would rank about tenth.

　　In China half the patent filings in 2004 were by foreign companies. Most in Japan and South Korea are still by local inventors.

　　The Wipo report comes as China prepares to face questioning in the World Trade Organisation this month on its compliance with intellectual property rules, including the internet sale of counterfeit goods.

　　The US and European Union have complained that Beijing is not doing enough to crack down on intellectual property theft.

　　The US Chamber of Commerce estimated that China accounts for 60-65 per cent of the billions of dollars US companies lose from intellectual property theft.

　　一、参考译文：

　　在全球专利申请量排行榜中，中国已取代德国，成为第五大申请国，这突显出在知识产权领域，亚洲工业强国的地位日益突出。

　　世界知识产权组织（World Intellectual Property Organisation）在今日公布的首份专利活动综合报告中发现，中国在10年内的专利申请量已增长7倍。

　　作为联合国（UN）一个下属机构，世界知识产权组织将日本排在专利申请排行榜的首位，随后是美国、欧洲专利局（European Patent Office）和韩国。加上中国，这些专利部门的专利申请量占2004年申请总量的四分之三，2004年是掌握全面数据的最近一年。作为传统专利申请大国的德国名列第六。

　　上述报告显示，在过去20年内，专利申请量随着经济的增长而上升，2004年，全球申请量几乎增长一倍，达到160万件。逾540万个专利在当年有效。

　　在东北亚地区，随着韩国和中国先后成为主要工业经济体，该地区的申请量增长尤其迅猛。台湾由于不具备加入世界知识产权组织的资格而未被该报告纳入，但官员们表示，它会排在第十位。

　　2004年，中国专利申请中的一半，由外企提出。而在日本和韩国，多数申请仍由本土发明者提出。

　　世界知识产权组织这份报告出台之际，中国正准备于本月在世界贸易组织（WTO）接受就其遵守知识产权保护条例情况进行的质询，包括网上出售假冒商品等事宜。

　　美国和欧盟（EU）抱怨称，中国政府在打击盗用知识产权行为方面做得不够。

　　美国商会（US Chambers of Commerce）估计，在美国企业由于知识产权被盗用而遭受的巨额损失中，涉及中国的比例占60%至65%.

　　二、重点词汇：

　　patent 　n.专利权，执照，专利品

　　　　　 adj.特许的，专利的，显著的，明白的，新奇的

　　　　　 vt.取得……的专利权，请准专利

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