ABSTRACT
In recent years,the number of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine( TCM) inventions has increased rapidly,but the authorization rate has declined. Listed TCM enterprises are a group of active innovators in this field,so this paper analyzes their patent quality by combining patent application and authorization with R&D investment of enterprises in order to explore a practical way to improve the quality of TCM patents. The conclusions are as follows: the R&D investment of listed TCM enterprises is insufficient and the gap between enterprises is large; the number of patent applications is within a reasonable range,but some enterprises still have abnormal patent applications,and patent quality needs to be improved; in addition,the patent operation capacity of enterprises still needs to be improved. In this phenomenon,enterprises should improve R&D investment,strengthen the level of technological innovation,improve the ability of patent operation,and consciously eliminate the output of " abnormal patents"; the patent administrative department should optimize policy direction which is beneficial to the improvement of patent quality,grasp the normal and reasonable examination scale,and jointly improve the quality of TCM patents.