Shenzhen issued its first White Paper on the city's intellectual property development Tuesday, World Intellectual Property Day.

The bilingual White Paper reflects the status of Shenzhen's inventions, IPR management, utilization and protection. The government decided to issue a White Paper on intellectual property rights (IPR) each year in 2004.

Shenzhen received 7,737 patents last year, up 56.7 percent from a year before, the White Paper said.

There were 14,918 patent applications in Shenzhen last year, 20.6 percent more than 2003. Shenzhen ranks the third in terms of patient applications, after Shanghai and Beijing, according to the White Paper.

Vice Mayor Liu Yingli said the white paper would make the city more aware of IPR and promote inventions.

The city had done a lot to protect IPR, said the White Paper. Louis Vuitton wrote a letter to Li Hongzhong, Party secretary and Mayor of Shenzhen, to express its gratitude for protecting its brand name from pirates.

Li Ping, director of Shenzhen Intellectual Property Office, said it was necessary to enhance cooperation among different bureaus to better protect IPR.

The city will beef up cooperation with international society to enhance IPR protection. It has been agreed that the city will host a Sino-French IPR forum in October.

Meanwhile, the municipal government opened a bilingual Web site on laws and policies on IPR protection.

The Web site, http://www.szip.org, is the first of its kind in China.

Editor: Yan