“Top 10 Insights from the 2018 WIPO Intellectual Property Indicators Report”
Key Insights from WIPO’s 2018 IP Indicators Report
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its 2018 IP Indicators report, providing a comprehensive analysis of the global patent landscape in 2017. The report, which is based on data from regional and national IP offices, offers a wealth of information on patent applications, filings, and trends. Here are the top 10 takeaways from the report.
1. Growth in Patent Applications
The report reveals that patent applications have been on a steady rise since 2003, with a growth rate of 5.8% in 2017. However, the report also hints at a potential slowdown in patent filings due to the predicted financial crisis in 2020.
2. China’s IP Office Overwhelmed with Applications
China’s National Intellectual Property Office (CNIPA) received a staggering 1.38 million applications in 2017, contributing significantly to the global patent filings. Despite the impressive growth, the report suggests that other offices have struggled to keep pace with China’s rapid expansion in the patent landscape.
3. Expansion of Asia’s Patent Market
Asian offices accounted for 65.1% of all patent applications worldwide, a 15.4% increase from 2007. China led this growth, filing two-thirds of the applications. However, only 4.6% of filings made by Chinese entities were made abroad, indicating a strong domestic focus.
4. Europe Dominates the Top 20 Countries of Origin
Twelve of the top 20 patent-filing countries are European, with Denmark, India, and Belgium experiencing the fastest growth in applications. The most patent applications come from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the US, and Germany.
5. Japan and China Lead in Patent Families
Patent families, which are sets of patent applications filed in one or more offices to protect the same invention, are dominated by applicants from Japan and China. Eight out of the top 10 companies creating the largest number of patent families were located in Asia.
6. Electrical Engineering Tops Technology Group
Electrical engineering and chemistry were the leading categories cited in patent applications. Computer technology was the most frequently featured technology, followed by electrical machinery, digital communication, measurement technology, and medical technology.
7. Increased Female Participation in Patenting
The report highlights a positive trend in gender diversity, with the share of women inventors named in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications reaching 31.2% in 2017, a nearly 10 percentage point increase since 2003.
8. US and China Record Over One Million Pending Patent Applications
In 2017, both China and the US reported over one million potentially pending patent applications, indicating a steady increase in patent filing activity.
9. US Leads in Filing Applications Abroad
While Japan has maintained a strong global presence, the US leads in terms of filing volume abroad. China, despite its robust domestic filings, has a limited presence in other prominent patent markets.
10. Increase in Granted Patents
The number of worldwide granted patents grew by 3.9% in 2017, with the estimated number of patents in force reaching 13.7 million. The majority of these patents are in the US, China, Japan, the UK, and the Republic of Korea.
**Note: The data and information in this article was sourced from the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018 Report