Huawei tops list of PCT filers

Chinese phone maker Huawei filed the most applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2014, figures from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have shown.

Huawei filed 3,442 PCT applications last year, surpassing the previous biggest filer, Japan-based Panasonic, which had filed 2,881 applications in 2013.

US-based chip maker Qualcomm was the second largest applicant in 2014, with 2,409 published applications. Another Chinese phone maker, ZTE, took third place, with 2,179 applications.

The figures were released on Thursday (March 19).

The PCT system enables users to file patent applications in each of its 148 member states, although a decision on whether to grant a  PCT patent is made by the national or regional patent office.

Worldwide, there were 215,000 PCT applications filed in 2014, which represented a 4.7% increase from the previous year, when there were 205,300 applications.

The US was the primary country of origin for applications, with 61,492 coming from companies based there. The figure marks a 7.4% increase from 2013, when the country was responsible for 57,239 applications.

Francis Gurry, director general at WIPO, said: “The rapid growth in international patent applications underscores the increasing importance of IP as it moves from the periphery to the centre of the global economic system.

“We are pleased that our filing services provide effective and efficient support for managing this trend.”

There was also a slight increase in trademark applications under the Madrid System, an international regime administered by WIPO.

Applications filed under the system grew to 47,885 in 2014, up from 46,829 in 2013.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis was the top filer, with 281 applications in 2014, followed by UK-based GlaxoSmithKline, with 234.

The US overtook Germany as the largest user of the system, with 6,595 applications coming from its shores in 2014.