Innovators filed some 2.7 million patent applications in 2014 to mark a 4.5% worldwide annual rise. Application activity in China outstripped the combined total in its next-closest followers, the United States and Japan.
Trademark and plant variety filings also showed strong growth last year, while industrial design applications declined for the first time in two decades, according to the 2015 edition of the World Intellectual Property Indicators - WIPO’s annual report on the latest trends in intellectual property (IP) activity worldwide.
“Demand for IP rights continued to grow around the globe in 2014,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. “This underscores the central role that new technology and brand recognition play in determining success in today’s marketplace. It also highlights the important task that falls to IP offices in maintaining quality when examining IP applications.”
Patent offices receiving the highest number of applications in 2014 were China, with 928,177 filings, followed by the US (578,802), Japan (325,989), the Republic of Korea (210,292) and the European Patent Office (EPO, 152,662).
US applicants filed the most applications abroad (224,400), followed by those from Japan (200,000) and Germany (105,600).
Computer technology (7.8% of total) saw most applications worldwide, followed by electrical machinery (7.4%), measurement (4.8%) and digital communication (4.6%).
An estimated 1.18 million patents were granted worldwide in 2014.
The total number of trademark registrations issued worldwide in 2014 increased markedly by 16.3% to reach 3.49 million.
For the first time in more than 20 years, the total number of designs contained in all industrial design applications filed worldwide in 2014 dropped by 8.1% to about 1.14 million in 2014.
Plant variety applications reached a new record in 2014 with around 15,600 filings worldwide. The 3.3% increase in 2014 marks the fourth consecutive year of growth.
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