China dominates global IP filings: WIPO
China accounted for almost half of global patent applications last year, while the US saw filings decline for the first time in a decade, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has revealed.
The figures were published in WIPO’s World IP Indicators 2019 report today, October 16.
The Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) received a record 1.54 million patent applications last year, 46.4% of the global total.
According to WIPO, this figure was “similar in magnitude to the combined total of the offices ranked two through 11”.
In terms of patent applications, the CNIPA was followed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (597,141), the Japanese Patent Office (313,567), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (209,992) and the European Patent Office (EPO; 174,397).
The top five offices accounted for 85.3% of total patent applications last year, WIPO said.
Patent filings at the USPTO declined by 1.6%, the first time filings have fallen year on year since 2009.
China (+11.6%), the EPO (+4.7%) and South Korea (+2.5%), meanwhile, all experienced “record growth”, WIPO said.
The figures also cemented Asia’s primacy in global patent filings, with the region’s IP offices receiving two-thirds (66.8%) of all applications filed worldwide in 2018, an increase of 16% since 2008.
The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ranked 12th for patent filings, receiving 20,941 in 2018, a decline of 5% on the previous year.
Trademark surge
Asia’s dominance in trademark filings has grown even faster. “Offices located in Asia accounted for 70% of all trademark filing activity in 2018, up from 36.2% in 2008,” WIPO said.
European IP offices’ share of trademark filings has fallen from 38.4% to 15.8% over the ten year period.
WIPO compares international trademark filings by class count, to take into account offices which permit single-class filings only.
The CNIPA, USPTO, JPO, and European Union Intellectual Property Office are among the leading offices in terms of trademark filings received by class count in 2018, with the Iranian IP office rounding off the top five (384,338) last year.
Francis Gurry, director of WIPO, said that the figures showed that Asia had become a “global hub for innovation”.
“Asia continues to outpace other regions in filing activity for patents, trademarks, industrial designs and other intellectual property rights that are at the centre of the global economy,” Gurry said.
