PCT filings continue to grow
The number of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications filed last year rose by nearly 6.6 per cent compared with 2011, representing the third consecutive year of growth.
An annual World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) report, published today, shows that national and regional IP offices handled about 194,400 PCT applications in 2012, though the level of growth was lower than in 2011.
The PCT system allows patent owners to file international applications and send them to any offices in the PCT’s 146 contracting member states for review.
WIPO, which administers the PCT system, said ZTE remained the leading PCT applicant last year, filing 3,906 applications. The Chinese telecoms company was followed by Panasonic, a Japanese electronics maker, which applied for 2,591 PCTs.
The University of California, with 351 applications, remained the most prolific educational institution applicant, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (168) and Harvard University (146).
All three institutions are based in the US, from where the most PCT applications – about 51,200 – were again filed. Japan, Germany and China were in the next three places, respectively, but the report said “China will most likely overtake Germany in 2013, as its filings grew much faster than those from Germany over the last few years”.
The report added: “In 2012, applicants from Japan contributed most to overall growth in PCT filings, with 4,786 more PCT applications filed than in 2011, followed by applicants from China (+2,225 PCT filings) and the US (+2,147).”
Large middle-income countries such as Turkey, Mexico, India, South Africa and Russian saw drops in PCT applications, according to the report, while China and Brazil were among the few exceptions.
Last year, electronic machinery was the most widely-represented technology field, with almost 13,300 applications, and was followed by digital communications (12,616), and computer technology (12,391). This is the first time that the top three technology fields belong to the same sector – electrical engineering.
The report brings good news for patent owners overall, said Pam Bryer, partner at Marks & Clerk LLP, noting that many of its positives trends are largely fuelled by China and Japan.
“This is partly because their economies are doing a bit better than in Europe but also because of the technology that tends to come out of there – primarily electronics – as a large number of multinational firms are based there,” she said.
“The top three educational institutions countries are all in the US but as China becomes more prominent, institutions there will likely edge closer,” she added.
The PCT is seen as attractive to patent owners, partly because they don’t have to decide where they want patent protection until 30 months after their initial filing, compared with 12 months under typical national procedures. The system is also seen as simplifying the patent-application process.
