The World Intellectual Property Organization has released its 2007 Patent Report
The highlights:
Growth in Patent Activity. Worldwide filings of patent applications have grown at an average annual rate of 4.7% since 1995 to a total of more than 1.6 million in 2005. The growth rate is comparable to the overall increase in economic activity over the same period. Patents granted worldwide have increased at an average annual rate of 3.6% to about 600,000 in 2005. At the end of 2005, there were approximately 5.6 million patents in force worldwide.
Increasing Internationalization. The use of the patent system internationally has increased markedly in recent years. This can be seen in the growth rate of total patent filings by non-residents (+7.6% over 2004) and in the increase in non-resident patent filings in countries such as China, India, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. However, the use of the patent system remains highly concentrated with only five patent offices (China, Japan, the European Patent Office, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America) accounting for 77% of all patents filed and 74% of all patents granted.
Increased use of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The PCT, which provides a simplified system for international patent filing, has become the major route for international patent filing. The number of PCT international applications increased by 7.9% from 2005 to 2006 to reach 147,500. PCT national phase entries account for 48% of worldwide non-resident patent filings.
Processing of Patent Applications. Increasing demand has led to increases in workload in some patent offices, although the number of patent applications pending examination differs significantly from one office to another. The United States of America had more than 900,000 pending applications in 2005, with Japan having the next largest number of pending applications (according to available data).
Increasing Patent Filings in the Technical Field of Electricity and Electronics. 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 of America followed by the Republic of Korea, the European Patent Office and China. |
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