The Chinese government’s emphasis on boosting innovation might be proving fruitful. According to the latest statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office (“SIPO”), the government entity responsible for prosecuting patents, there were 426,000 patent applications filed and 252,000 patents granted in China during the first half of 2009. Compared with the first half of 2008, patent filings are up 31.3 percent and patent grants are up 23.1 percent.