BEIJING — Japan, the United States and Germany topped the list of the most patent filings in China last year, according to China's National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA).

Market entities from 186 countries and regions applied for patents and trademarks in China in 2019, an increase of 12 over the previous year.

Japan, the United States and Germany applied for the most invention patents, with 49,000, 39,000 and 16,000 filings, respectively.

The United States ranked first for trademark applications in 2019 with 54,000 filings, a 5.3 percent increase over 2018, and Japan second with 31,000, growing 21.2 percent from the previous year. Britain was third with a 42.4 percent year-on-year increase of 24,000 applications.

Foreign intellectual property (IP) filings in China continued to grow. In 2019, the number of invention patent applications filed by foreign applicants reached 157,000, up 6 percent from the previous year. The number of foreign trademark applications reached 255,000, an increase of 4.7 percent year-on-year.

"This continued growth of foreign IP applications shows the confidence of foreign investors in the Chinese market as well as China's progress in IP protection and business environment," said Dong Tao, a law professor at Beijing International Studies University.