World IP filings rebound in 2010 - despite economic turmoil
7 Mar 2012
WIPO's World Intellectual Property Indicators 2011 report provides a wide range of indicators covering various areas of IP.
A new report, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2011, shows that intellectual property filings worldwide rebounded strongly in 2010 after considerable decline in 2009.
The World Intellectual Property Organization says that growth in IP filings outstripped the overall economic recovery rate in many countries.
Globally, patent and trade mark filings grew by 7.2 and 11.8 per cent respectively in 2010 compared to gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.1 per cent. The filing of nearly two million patent applications worldwide was an all time high - significant in that it came off the back of a 3.6 per cent decline in 2009.
The WIPO report says that China and the US accounted for 80 per cent of worldwide growth in patent filings, with the US patent office recording 7.5 per cent growth and the largest number of applications – just shy of half a million. This was in marked contrast to the near zero growth of the previous two years.
Similarly the rise in trade mark filings, which reached 3.66 million in 2010, was the highest ever, countering the 2.6 per cent drop the previous year. China accounted for three-fifths of the 11.8 per cent global growth in applications.
China’s patent office with more than 391,000 filings overtook Japan to become the second largest recipient of patent applications in 2010. This mirrored wider economic trends where China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy measured against GDP.
In the past decade, the patent office of China has seen the most dramatic increases in application levels. Between 2001 and 2010, annual growth averaged 22.6 per cent, with patent filings rising from 63,450 in 2001 to 391,177 in 2010.
The majority of the world’s top 20 offices recorded growth in patent applications. China reached double digit growth - 24.3 per cent; the European Patent Office - 12.2 per cent; Singapore - 11.9 per cent and the Russian Federation 10.2 per cent.
The report shows that computer technology, electrical machinery, audio-visual technology and medical technology accounted for the largest proportion of patent filings worldwide.
Last Updated: 29/11/2012
