Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) has announced expansion of its agreement with the China Patent Information Center of the State Intellectual Property Office to supply authoritative and professional patent searching services for netizens, starting on January 1, 2008.

With the development of Chinese innovations and the increasing of the country's economic power, the number of patent application has also increased. According to the statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office, by November 2007, the total number of patent applications received was almost 4 million, including invention patents, practical new patents and exterior design patents.

As the most popular Chinese search engine in the world, Baidu reportedly receives millions of searches from nations around the world and this new patent search service will assist researchers outside of China to check on issues in the Middle Kingdom.

Through this cooperation, netizens can receive patent information through Baidu quickly and conveniently. It is not only convenient for netizens to search for patent technology and relative laws, but also gives unprecedented support to increase Chinese enterprises' competitive strength.