In a year that saw a record number of international patent filings, the Republic of Korea overtook the Netherlands as the 6th biggest user of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and China dislodged Canada, Italy and Australia to take the position of 10th largest PCT user. In 2005, over 134,000 PCT applications were filed, representing a 9.4% increase over the previous year. The five top users of the international patent system remained unchanged, namely: United States of America, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. And, for the second year running, the most impressive rates of growth came from north east Asia – namely, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, which between them accounted for 24.1% of all international applications, compared to 34.6% from the countries party to the European Patent Convention and 33.6% from the United States of America. The PCT is the cornerstone of the international patent system and offers a rapid, flexible and cost-effective way to obtain patent protection in the 128 countries that have signed up to the system.
“The rate of growth from Japan, Republic of Korea and China continues to be exceptional, reflecting the rapidly expanding technological strength of those countries. Since 2000, the number of applications from Japan, Republic of Korea, and China, has risen by 162%, 200% and 212%, respectively,” said Mr. Francis Gurry, WIPO Deputy Director General who oversees the work of the PCT.
Inventors and industry from the United States of America represented 33.6% (a 3.8% increase over 2004) of all applications in 2005. Applicants from Japan, who unseated their German counterparts in 2003 for the number two spot, maintained their second place position with 18.8% of the total number of applications, representing a 24.3% increase. Germany held third position with 11.8% of all applications in 2005, representing a 4% increase, followed by France (4.1% of all applications and a 6.6% increase) and the United Kingdom (3.8% of all applications and a 1.5% increase). Among the fifteen top filing countries, others to achieve double-digit rates of growth were Australia (13th highest filer, with a rate of growth of 10.1% in 2005) and Finland (14th highest filer, with a rate of growth of 11.6% in 2005).
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