(Yicai Global) April 28 -- Shanghai had a per capita patent ownership of 53.54 per 10,000 people last year, ranking it second in China, the city’s Intellectual Property Office said today.

The eastern Chinese metropolis had 129,800 valid patents last year, a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent. Beijing was No. 1, with a per capita patent ownership of 132 per 10,000.

Shanghai is advancing the protection and application of intellectual property rights in order to transform itself into an IPR center of the Asia-Pacific region, Rui Wenbiao, director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, told a press conference.

Shanghai dealt with 630 IPR infringement cases last year, amounting to over CNY6.8 billion (USD960.8 million), and arrested 1,150 suspects, Rui said.

Shanghai Customs has solved cases related to imports and export with the help of a cross-border trade big data platform. It cracked 381 infringement cases over the year, involving 7.33 million items worth CNY14.1 million (USD2 million).

The Shanghai Intellectual Property Office, meanwhile, signed cooperation agreements with 10 banks to establish the Shanghai Intellectual Property Financial Services Alliance. A total of 89 patent pledge contracts were registered last year, with a pledged deposit of CNY1.4 billion.

Editor: Peter Thomas