ACCESS | Asia 's Newspaper on Electronic Information Product & Service

September 2007 No.62

WIPO report reveals highest patenting growth rates in North East Asia

The 2007 edition of the Patent Report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows that world wide filings of patent applications have grown at an average annual rate of 4.7 percent with the highest growth rates experienced in North East Asian countries, particularly the Republic of Korea (ROK) and China. The report is based on 2005 figures, the last year for which complete worldwide statistics are available. It showed that patents granted worldwide have increased at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent with some 600,000 patents granted in 2005 alone. By the end of 2005, approximately 5.6 million patents were in force worldwide.

The largest recipients of patent filings are the patent offices of Japan, the United States of America (USA), China, the ROK and the European Patent Office (EPO). These five offices account for 77 percent of all patents filed in 2005, (a 2 percent increase over 2004), representing 74 percent of all patents granted. With an increase of almost 33 percent over 2004, the patent office of China became the third recipient of patent filings in 2005.

Use of the international patent system has increased markedly in recent years and while it remains highly concentrated - 49 percent of the estimated 5.6 million patents in force are owned by applicants from Japan and the USA - there is evidence of increasing use of the system by newly industrializing nations.

“We have witnessed a significant increase in the use of the patent system internationally in recent years,” said Dr. Kamil Idris, WIPO Director General. “This is clearly one indicator of the level of inventiveness and innovation that is occurring around the world and signals those areas in which technological development is most pronounced.” He added. “While the use of the system remains highly concentrated, we are seeing an historic evolution in the geography of innovation. With increased patenting activity in newly industrializing and emerging countries, we expect the pattern of ownership of patent rights worldwide will become more diversified over the coming years.”

Dr Idris added, “Information contained in patents and better analysis of data relating to patents is extremely valuable and for these reasons WIPO has enhanced its work relating to patent statistics. The current report is the most comprehensive yet, including an analysis of patenting activity by field of technology as well as improved statistical data on patent processing and patent life cycles.” He said that these data are useful and relevant to policy makers, scientists, researchers and the business community.

North East Asia: significant growth

The report reaffirms that the North East Asian region has significantly increased its share of world wide patenting, both as a source of patent applications and as a target of non-resident patent applications from outside the region. Patent filings by residents doubled in the ROK and increased by more than eight fold in China between 1995 and 2005. The patent office of China has the highest growth rate for resident (+42.1 percent) and non-resident (+23.6 percent) filings.

Commenting on this significant shift in the geography of innovation which for the past 250 years has been largely focused in industrialized countries, Mr. Francis Gurry, WIPO Deputy Director General, who oversees WIPO’s work relating to patents, predicted that this trend will continue. Based on this report’s findings, as well as trends in the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Mr. Gurry said “Countries in North East Asia will most likely continue to challenge their counterparts elsewhere. A few years ago, they took the patent world by surprise, but it is now very much the expectation that countries like China and Republic of Korea will continue their rapid developments in innovation, one indicator of which is the number of patent applications filed.”

Patents Granted in 2005

Some 600,000 patents were granted in 2005. The largest number of patents was granted by the patent office of the USA, followed by the offices of Japan, the ROK (up 2 places from 2004), China (up 1 place from 2004) and the EPO. These five offices account for 74 percent of patents granted worldwide in 2005. Residents of Japan obtain the largest number of the patents granted worldwide, followed by residents of the USA, the Republic of Korea, Germany and France.

Of the 5.6 million patents in force (the standard international rule provides that a patent may remain in force for up to twenty years), 90 percent are accounted for by ten offices – USA, Japan, Germany, the ROK, United Kingdom, France, Spain, China, Canada and Russian Federation. Applicants from Japan and the United States of America owned 28 percent and 21 percent, respectively, of patents in force world wide in 2005.

Growth Sectors

In its analysis of patent trends around the world, the report reveals an increase in filings in the electricity and electronics sectors. Patent applications filed in these areas represented 32 percent of worldwide patent filings between 2000 and 2004. Patent filings in this field of technology are concentrated in the patent offices of Japan and the United States of America followed by the Republic of Korea, the EPO and China. The three fastest growing technical fields from 2000 to 2004 were medical technology (+32.2 percent), audio-visual technology (+28.3 percent) and information technology (+27.7 percent).