WIPO Intellectual Property Indicators Released

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently released its World Intellectual Property Indicators information for 2017.  Global intellectual property filings are at an all-time high with patent filings up 5.8% from the prior year.  Notably, patent filings in China have increased substantially both by Chinese citizens and foreign residents.  U.S. patent filers continue to lead globally.  Concerning patents, WIPO notes:

China’s IP office received the highest number of patent applications in 2017, a record total of 1.38 million. China in 2017 refined its method for compiling statistics for patents and industrial designs applications, counting only those for which application fees have been paid. China’s IP office was followed by the offices of the United States of America (U.S.; 606,956), Japan (318,479), the Republic of Korea (204,775) and the European Patent Office (EPO; 166,585).

The top five offices accounted for 84.5% of the world total. Among these offices, China (+14.2%) and the EPO (+4.5%) saw strong growth in filings, while Japan (+0.03%) and the U.S. (+0.2%) saw negligible growth. The Republic of Korea (-1.9%) received fewer applications in 2017 than in 2016.

Germany (67,712), India (46,582), the Russian Federation (36,883), Canada (35,022) and Australia (28,906) also featured among the top 10 offices. Australia (+1.8%), Canada (+0.8%) and India (+3.4%) saw growth in filings, while Germany (-0.3%) and the Russian Federation (-11.3%) experienced a decline in filings.

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Asia going strong

Asia has strengthened its position as the region with the greatest activity in patent filings. Offices located in Asia received 65.1% of all applications filed worldwide in 2017 – a considerable increase from 49.7% in 2007 - primarily driven by growth in China.

Offices located in North America accounted for 20.3% of the 2017 world total – six percentage points below its 2007 share. Europe’s share declined from 18.1% in 2007 to 11.2% in 2017. The combined share of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania was 3.4% in 2017.

Patenting activity beyond borders

In filing abroad, which is an indication of a desire to expand in new markets, U.S. residents continue to lead with 230,931 equivalent patent applications filed abroad in 2017. The U.S. was followed by Japan (200,370), Germany (102,890), the Republic of Korea (67,484) and China (60,310).

Among these five origins, China reported a 15% growth in filings abroad, which is far above that of Japan (+2.1%) and the U.S. (+2%). Both Germany (-0.6%) and the Republic of Korea (-4.1%) had fewer filings abroad in 2017 than in 2016.

Patents in force worldwide grew by 5.7% to reach 13.7 million in 2017. Around 2.98 million patents were in force in the U.S., while China (2.09 million) and Japan (2.01 million) each had around 2 million.

WIPO has also released data concerning trademarks, plant variety applications, industrial design and geographical indications, available here.  For the first time, WIPO has collected and released data on the creative economy:

Revenue generated by the three sectors (trade, educational and scientific, technical and medical) of the publishing industry of 11 countries amounted to USD 248 billion. China reported the largest net revenue (USD 202.4 billion), followed by the U.S. (USD 25.9 billion), Germany (USD 5.8 billion) and the U.K. (USD 4.7 billion)[3].

Digital editions generated 28.3% of the total trade sector revenue in China, 23.5% in Japan, 18.4% in Sweden, 13.2% in Finland and 12.9% in the U.S.

The U.S. sold 2,693 million copies of published titles in 2017, followed by the U.K. (647 million), Brazil (617 million) and France (430 million).