China becomes the largest source country for international patent applications for the first time
Science and Technology Daily (Reporter Cao Xiuying) The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently released a report saying that China surpassed the United States for the first time and became the largest source country for filing international patent applications through WIPO.
The data shows that in 2019, the number of international patent applications filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was 265,800, a growth rate of 5.2%; the number of international trademark applications filed through the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks was 64,400, with a growth rate of 5.7%; the number of industrial designs seeking protection through the Hague System for International Registration of Industrial Designs is 21,807, with a growth rate of 10.4%.
In 2019, China submitted 58990 applications through the PCT system, with an annual growth rate of 10.6%, becoming the largest user of the system. Since the PCT system was put into operation in 1978, the United States has previously ranked first, and in 2019 the country ranked second with 57840 applications. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said that China's rapid rise to first place underscores that, for a long time, the innovative geographic pattern has been shifting to the East, and applications submitted by Asian applicants now account for more than half of all applications.
In addition, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. became the first enterprise applicant with 4411 PCT applications for the third consecutive year, and Guangdong Opper Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. and Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. also ranked among the top ten. Applicant list. Among the top ten applicant companies, 6 belong to the digital communications industry, including Ericsson, Guangdong Oppo Mobile Communications, Huawei Technologies, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm.
In the list of educational institutions, four of the top ten universities on the list are from China, of which Tsinghua University, Shenzhen University, South China University of Technology and Dalian University of Technology are ranked second, third, fifth and seventh respectively.
Regarding Madrid's international trademark applications, China continued to rank behind the United States and Germany with 6,339 applications, keeping it third in the world. Huawei ranked third among trademark applicants with 131 applications. This is the first time that Chinese applicants have ranked among the top five in the world. In addition, although China is not currently a member of the Hague System, applications from Chinese users have reached 238 (including 663 designs), an increase of more than 70%, making China among the top ten applicants of the Hague System.