The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced on April 7 that China surpassed the United States in 2019 to become the country with the largest number of international patent applications under the Organization's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) framework.

According to a WIPO press release published on April 7, China had 58,990 patent filings under the organization's PCT framework in 2019, surpassing 57,840 filed by the United States and becoming the largest PCT filer. WIPO Director General Gurry said in the press release that the Organization received 276 patent applications filed by China in 1999, and this number soared to 58,990 in 2019, which reaches a 200-fold increase in 20 years.

Data shows that, in 2019, the top five PCT filer in addition to China and the United States, are Japan (52,660), Germany (19,353) and South Korea (19,085). China Huawei became the No. 1 enterprise applicant for the third consecutive year with 4411 applications, followed by Japan Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (2,661), South Korea Samsung Electronics (2,334), American Qualcomm (2,127) and China Guang Dong OPPO (1,927).

Among educational institutions, the University of California ranked top one in 2019 with 470 published applications, Tsinghua University ranked second with 265 applications, followed by Shenzhen University (247), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (230) and South China University of Technology (164).

In addition, the country that using the WIPO Madrid System to file the most international trademark applications in 2019 is still the United States, followed by Germany, China, France and Switzerland.

Gurry said that China has leapt to the top in terms of the number of international patent applications filed through WIPO. This highlights the shift in the geographic landscape of innovation to the East with applications from Asia accounting for more than half of all PCT applications. Although intellectual property is increasingly becoming the core of global competition, innovation is not a "zero-sum game". Global net growth in innovation means the emergence of new medicines, new communication technologies, and new solutions to global challenges, which will benefit everybody in the world.

(Source: Xinhua News      Published on 05/19 2020)