Chinese Activity Fueled 5.8% Rise in 2017 Patent Applications, Says WIPO

Inventors globally filed 3.17 million patent applications in 2017, a 5.8 percent increase from 2016 and the eighth straight year of increases, reported the World Intellectual Property Organization Monday. China’s IP office received the highest number of patent applications in 2017, a record 1.38 million, said WIPO. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was second (606,956 applications), followed by Japan (318,479), South Korea (204,775) and the European Patent Office (166,585), it said. Patents in force worldwide grew 5.7 percent to 13.7 million in 2017, including 2.98 million in the U.S., 2.09 million in China and 2.01 million in Japan, it said. “Demand for IP protection is rising faster than the rate of global economic growth, illustrating that IP-backed innovation is an increasingly critical component of competition and commercial activity,” said WIPO. “In just a few decades, China has constructed an IP system, encouraged homegrown innovation, joined the ranks of the world’s IP leaders and is now driving worldwide growth in IP filings.”