Patent Grants at IP5 Offices See 10% Growth in 2021

 

According to the IP5 Statistics Report 2021 published jointly by the world’s five largest intellectual property offices, namely, European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), collectively known as the IP5 Offices, a total of 1,462,774 patents were granted by these five IP offices in 2021, a growth of 10% over the previous year.

 

The report further noted that the numbers of granted patents increased in 2021 at the JPO, the KIPO and the CNIPA by 3%, 8% and 31% respectively, and decreased at the EPO by 19% and at the USPTO by 7%.

 

As for patent applications, in 2021, a total of 2,892,934 patent applications were filed at the IP5 Offices, up 3.7% from 2020. Specifically, patent applications increased by 6% at the CNIPA, by 5% at the EPO, by 4% at the KIPO, and by less than 1% at the JPO while they decreased by 1% at the USPTO.

 

In terms of PCT international filings, the KIPO, the CNIPA and the USPTO saw a rise in 2021 compared with 2020, with the largest increment of 4% at the KIPO. Together, the IP5 Offices were the receiving offices for 86% of the PCT international filings in 2021.