Apple has been granted patents on some of the distinctive elements of its store designs in China as the US company acts to protect itself better against rampant copying of not only its products but also of its sales channels on the Chinese mainland.

The three recently granted design patents cover the architecture of Apple’s stores in Shanghai and were awarded in May, according to state media reports, suggesting that the company registered them after it began its expansion in China last year. One was announced on Wednesday by the state intellectual property office, in regard to a glass dome such as that which characterises one of the company’s Shanghai stores.

Apple has a patchy record of securing patents and trademarks in this fast-growing but challenging market. The gaps in the company’s intellectual property rights protection were emphasised by the revelation in July of a fake Apple store in Kunming, the capital of the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan.