On December 07, 2020, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published the World Intellectual Property Indicators Report. With data and analysis on intellectual property of around 150 countries, the report provides material information to policy makers, business leaders and interested parties in general concerning macro trends in the innovation and creativity fields.
According to the WIPO Director General, Daren Tang, a high level of innovation and creativity was observed in the end of 2019, the initial phase of Covid-19 pandemic. Further, Daren Tang understands that, in this pandemic scenario, the adoption of new technologies has been stimulated and the digitalization of daily life activities has accelerated, and that intellectual property will become even more relevant for many countries after the pandemic.
Regarding patents, the report ranked the 5 Industrial Property (IP) Offices with the greatest numbers of filings in 2019: China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA, with 1.4 million filings), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO, with 621,453 filings), Japan Patent Office (JPO, with 307,969 filings), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO, with 218,975 filings) and the European Patent Office (EPO, with 181,479 filings). The above-mentioned countries/regions presented increase in the number of filings, except China (decrease of 9.2%) and Japan (decrease of 1.8%). The decrease of around 10% observed in China is related to reduction of filings made by residents, due to modifications in the national guidelines.
An increase of 1.3% of filings related to design applications was observed around the world. The most relevant IP Offices were CNIPA, EPO, KIPO, USPTO and the Turkish Patent Office. According to WIPO, there are currently around 4.1 million of industrial design registrations in force all around the globe.
More information may be obtained at: https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2020/article_0027.html
World Intellectual Property Indicators Report is available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_941_2020.pdf