WIPO: China Drives Record Patent, Trademark, Design Filings in 2016

PR71428

GENEVA, Dec. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

     Worldwide filings for patents, trademarks and industrial designs reached

record heights

[http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2017/article_0013.html ] in 2016

amid soaring demand in China, the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization

reports.

    Innovators around the world filed 3.1 million patent applications in 2016,

up 8.3% in a seventh straight yearly increase, according to WIPO's annual World

Intellectual Property Indicators report.

    Trademark applications jumped by 16.4% to about 7 million, and worldwide

industrial design applications grew by 10.4% to almost 1 million - both also

driven by growth in China.

    "The latest figures charting a rise in demand for intellectual property

rights confirm a decade-long trend, where developments in China increasingly

leave their mark on the worldwide totals," said WIPO Director General Francis

Gurry. "China is increasingly amongst the leaders in global innovation and

branding."

    Patents

    China's State Intellectual Property Office received the highest number of

patent applications in 2016, a record total of 1.3 million. It was followed by

the United States Patent and Trademark Office (605,571), the Japan Patent

Office (318,381), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (208,830) and the

European Patent Office (159,358). On a per-capita basis, patent filings in

China ranked behind those in Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the U.S.

    Trademarks

    An estimated 7 million trademark applications were filed worldwide in 2016,

16.4% more applications than in 2015, marking the seventh consecutive year of

growth.

    The office of China had the highest volume of filing activity with a class

count of around 3.7 million, followed by the U.S. (545,587), Japan (451,320),

the European Union Intellectual Property Office (369,970) and India (313,623).

Among the top five offices, China (+30.8%), Japan (+30.8%) and India (+8.3%)

reported solid annual growth. Other offices among the top 20 with strong growth

were the Russian Federation (+14.8%), the U.K. (+19.1%) and Viet Nam (+21.1%).

    Industrial designs

    Global industrial design filing activity in 2016 grew by 10.4% to an

estimated 963,100 applications.

    The office of China received applications containing 650,344 designs in

2016, corresponding to 52% of the world total. It was followed by the European

Union IP Office (104,522), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (69,120),

Germany (56,188) and Turkey (46,305). Among the top 20 offices, the fastest

growth in design counts occurred in the Islamic Republic of Iran (+34.8%),

followed by Ukraine (+17.4%), China (+14.3%) and the U.S. (+12.1%).

    More: http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2017/article_0013.html

SOURCE: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)