Record Year for International Patent Filings

The international patent system is once again showing record growth with over 134,000 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications filed in 2005, representing a 9.4 percent increase over 2004. While the five top users of the PCT remained unchanged (United States of America, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom), the Republic of Korea overtook the Netherlands to move into 6th place, and China dislodged Canada, Italy and Australia to take the 10th.

In announcing the latest figures, WIPO Deputy Director General Francis Gurry highlighted that the most impressive rates of growth, for the second year running, had come from northeast Asia. "Since 2000, the number of applications from Japan, Republic of Korea, and China have risen by 162 percent, 200 percent and 212 percent, respectively," said Mr. Gurry. These three countries between them accounted for almost a quarter of all international applications. Other top filing countries showing double-digit rates of growth included Australia (10.1 percent), and Finland (11.6 percent).

Applications from developing countries, representing 6.7 percent of all international patent applications filed, saw a 20 percent increase as compared to 2004. The top filers among the developing countries were the Republic of Korea (4,747 applications), China (2,452), India (648), South Africa (336), Singapore (438), Brazil (283) and Mexico (136).

Company	Country	PCT applications
1.Philips Electronics N.V.	Netherlands	2,492
2. Matsushita	Japan	2,021
3.Siemens	Germany	1,402
4.Nokia	Finland	898
5.Bosch	Germany	843
6.Intel	U.S.A.	691
7.BASF	Germany	656
8. 3M	U.S.A.	603
9.Motorola	U.S.A.	580
10.DaimlerChrysler	Germany	567

Improved services and productivity

Mr. Gurry attributed the considerable overall growth not only to better economic conditions, but also to improved services and productivity gains within the PCT system, resulting particularly from expanded use of information technology (IT). Applications filed electronically more than doubled to exceed paper filings; and the number of international applications processed per employee...