WIPO IP Indicators Report Says China Drives Global IP Growth in 2014

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently published the 2015 edition of World Intellectual Property Indicators. The report concluded China as the main driver of global IP growth in 2014, with its topping the lists in filing of patent, trademark, and design applications worldwide during the year.

The report drew on data from more than 100 national and regional IP offices to provide indicators covering various areas of IP, including patent, trademark, industrial design, plant variety protection, microorganism, and utility model.

In 2014, some 2.68 million patent applications (up 4.5% year-on-year), 5.19 million trademark applications (up 6.9%), 854,400 design applications (down 9.9%), and 15,600 plant variety applications (up 3.3%) were filed worldwide.

The following are the top 3 ranking IP offices by number of applications received in 2014 in the areas of patent, trademark, industrial design, and plant variety respectively.

i. Patent applications

Ranking	IP Offices	No. of applications received
1	State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO)	928,177
2	United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)	578,802
3	Japan Patent Office (JPO)	325,989

ii. Trademark applications

Ranking	IP Offices	No. of applications received
1	China Trademark Office	2,222,680
2	United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)	471,228
3	Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) of EU	333,443

iii. Industrial design applications

Ranking	IP Offices	No. of applications received
1	State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China	564,555
2	Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) of EU	98,273
3	Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)	68,441

iv. Plant variety applications

Ranking	IP Offices	No. of applications received
1	Community Plant Variety Office of EU	3,625
2	State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China	2,026
3	United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)	1,567