International Patent Filings Set New Record in 2011: WIPO

2012/03/08

International patent filings have set a new record in 2011, reaching some 181,900 cases, up by 10.7 percent over the previous year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said on Monday.

It is the biggest increase in the number of international patent filings under the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) since 2005.

The United States still stood on top of list of major patent-filing countries in 2011. It filed 48,596 international patents in 2011, some 8 percent more over 2010. Japan ranked the second, with 38,888 international patents filed in the period, followed by Germany with 18,568 filings.

China, the fourth largest country in terms of international patent filings in 2011, saw its filings grew by 33.4 percent in 2011 year on year. The country's filings grew by 56.2 percent in 2010.

(Source: Xinhua)