Abstract: The development status of patents in China and America from 1996 to 2002 is reviewed and compared.There is a big difference about the number and quality of patents between China and America.It is found that laser welding,cutting,drilling,marking and annealing were still the main stream for technology creation in the past 7 years,which may even expand bigger with the improvement of laser devices and development of new types of lasers.There are two important points to develop laser processing industry in China:the first is developing new technology geared to the needs of market,the second is strengthening the consciousness of patents and how to use intelligent right to develop new products.