WIPO PATENT REPORT 2007

WIPO PATENT REPORT 2007 - Statistics on Worldwide Patent Activities

Some highlights in this report:

1 Very high growth rates in patent filings by applicants from North East Asian countries, particularly Korea and China. It is clear that this is a process that is ongoing.

2 Filings of PCT international applications from Korea and China have grown significantly since 2002, to the point where both countries are now within the top ten of origin of PCT international applications.

3 China’s ranking on Indicators of Patent Intensity, which compare patent filings with other indicators, namely population, GDP and R&D expenditures, remains low. These indicators allow for more meaningful cross-country comparisons by weighting the number of patents by different measures of country size and economic activity.

4 The increase in patent filings from newly industrialized countries does not yet translate into ownership of patent rights internationally by applicants from those countries. Of the approximately 5.6 million patents in force in 2005, 49% were owned by applicants from Japan and the United States. The major European countries are also strongly represented in ownership of patent rights.

5 Patent applications filed in the field of electricity and electronics represented 35% of worldwide patent filings between 2000 and 2005. Patent filings in this technology field are concentrated in the patent offices of Japan and the United States followed by Korea, the European Patent Office and China.