This survey included 59 secondary researches of traditional pharmaceutical patent literatures. The analysis was made on statistical indicator of the amount of annual papers, authors, institutions, published journals and re-search contents. The survey revealed that in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the number of sec-ondary research of patent literature was on the increase, and the degree of concern of TCM patent was far more than others. This survey not only assisted the understanding of current condition of TCM patent literatures, but also held its development trend in order to apply it in the studies.

This study was aimed to search and analyze patents of Chinese herb published both at home and abroad in 2010. The Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) was used as database source. A total of 8 704 Chinese herb patent records were retrieved. And the geographical distribution was concentrated in China. The technological field was mainly on hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, lower back pain, cough and other diseases. Innovations on formulation and preparation method also required special attention. In addition, through the analysis on patent attribution agency, some well-known Chinese enterprises, who aim to gain the initiative in specific technical areas, have actively applied a number of patents in specific areas.