The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the cornerstone of the international patent system, has since it began in 1978, seen continuous growth with a record 145,300¹ applications filed in 2006, representing a 6.4% growth over the previous year. The most remarkable growth rates came from countries in north east Asia for the third year running and represented over a quarter (25.3%) of all international applications under the PCT. In 2006, the list was topped by applications from the United States of America (USA), Japan, Germany, Republic of Korea and France.

"The number of international patent applications continues to rise with impressive growth from north east Asian countries. Increasingly developing country economies are capitalizing on the tools of the intellectual property system for wealth creation," said Mr. Francis Gurry, Deputy Director General who oversees the work of the PCT. "Innovation has been traditionally dominated by Europe and North America. New centers of innovation – in particular in northeast Asia - are emerging and this is transforming both the geography of the patent system and of future global economic growth" he added.

The Republic of Korea, which experienced 26.6% growth in 2006 as compared to 2005, overtook the United Kingdom and France to become the 4th biggest country of origin of PCT filings, and applicants from China, whose use grew by 56.8%, dislodged Switzerland and Sweden to take the position of 8th largest country of origin.

With just under 50,000 PCT applications, inventors and industry from the United States of America represented 34.1% (a 6.1% increase over 2005) of all applications in 2006. Applicants from Japan, who unseated their German counterparts in 2003 for the number two spot, maintained their second place position with 18.5% of the total number of applications, representing an 8.3% increase. Inventors and industry from Germany held third position with 11.7% of all applications in 2006, representing a 5.8% increase, followed by users in the Republic of Korea (4.1% of all applications and a 26.6% increase) and France (4.1% of all applications and a 2.8% increase). Among the fifteen top filing countries, others to achieve double-digit rates of growth were Italy (11th highest filer, with a rate of growth of 16.1% in 2006) and Israel (15th highest filer, with a rate of growth of 18.3% in 2006).

Top Applicants

The top 5 applicants remain unchanged. The Dutch multinational Philips Electronics N.V. was again the largest applicant (2,495 applications published in 2006), followed by Matsushita (Japan) (2,344), Siemens (Germany) (1,480) , Nokia (Finland) (1,036), and Bosch (Germany) (962). These were followed by 3M (USA) (727), BASF (Germany) (714), Toyota (Japan) (704),Intel (USA) (690), and Motorola (USA) (637). Among the 20 top filing companies, seven were from the USA, four from Japan and three from Germany.

Several companies join the top 20 list, including Huawei (China), up 24 places to 13th, Fujitsu (Japan), up 9 places to 15th, LG Electronics (Republic of Korea) up 12 to 16th, and Hewlett-Packard (USA) up 5 to 18th.

Developing Countries

International patent applications received from developing countries in 2006 saw a 27.6% increase as compared to 2005, representing 8.2% of all international patent applications filed. This is largely due to the filings from the Republic of Korea (5,935)and China (3,910), followed by India (627), Singapore (402), South Africa (349), Brazil (265) and Mexico (150). Developing countries make up 79% of the membership of the PCT, representing 106 of the 136 countries that have signed up to the treaty to date.

The top ten users of the PCT from developing countries include: Huawei Technologies (China), LG Electronics (Republic of Korea), Samsung Electronics, (Republic of Korea), LG Chem (Republic of Korea), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (Republic of Korea), ZTE Corporation (China), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (Singapore), Ranbaxy Laboratories (India), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India) and NHN Corporation (Republic of Korea).

Fields of Technology

The greatest number of PCT applications published in 2006 were in telecommunications (10.5%), pharmaceuticals (10.4%), and information technology (10.4%). The fastest growing technology areas are semiconductors (28% increase), information technology (22%) and pharmaceuticals (21%).

The main fields of technology in which PCT applications were published in 2006 are broken down according to a classification based on the International Patent Classification (IPC) - a system designed to facilitate the retrieval of technical information found in patent documents - and are outlined in Annex I.

Other Developments

Applicants are increasingly resorting to electronic filing of their international applications with just over a third (31%) of applications now filed electronically. A further 25% are filed using PCT-EASY software (electronic bibliographic data with the patent specification on paper). The remaining 44% are still filed entirely on paper.

The WIPO PCT receiving office recorded a 3.3% increase in the number of international applications filed directly with them in 2006. This represents 5.6% of all PCT applications received in 2006. The PCT receiving office provides applicants with an option to file their international applications directly with WIPO, rather than through the intermediary of a national or regional office.

In addition, WIPO has improved productivity in the operations of the PCT through the implementation of information technologies and outsourcing of functions such as a proportion of the translation work. All PCT applications are now scanned on receipt at WIPO and processed electronically. With these changes, WIPO is able to contain costs and process the increased volume of PCT applications while keeping staff levels relatively constant.

Paper publication has been discontinued and PCT publication now takes place electronically via WIPO's PatentScope portal ( http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/). PatentScope provides easy access to published PCT international applications and, through its advanced search engine and graphics features, provides easy access to the technological information disclosed via the international patent system.

Background

The PCT offers inventors and industry an advantageous route for obtaining patent protection internationally. By filing one "international" patent application under the PCT, protection of an invention can be sought simultaneously in each of a large number of countries. Both applicants and patent offices of PCT member states benefit from the uniform formality requirements, the international search and preliminary examination reports, and the centralized international publication provided by the PCT system. The national patent granting procedure and the related expenses are postponed, in the majority of cases, by up to 18 months (or even longer in the case of some offices) as compared with the traditional patent system. By this time, the applicant will have received important value-added information concerning the likelihood of obtaining patent protection as well as potential commercial interest in that invention.
The growth rate in the filing of PCT applications has been especially significant during the last nine years. It took 18 years from the beginning of PCT operations in 1978 to reach 250,000 total applications, but only four years to double that figure (500,000), and another four to double it again (1,000,000).

Annex I

PCT International Applications

Top 15 Countries of Origin
  

 

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006 estimate	2006 percent	2006 growth
United States of America	41,296	41,028	43,350	46,697	49,555	34.1%	6.1%
Japan	14,063	17,414	20,263	24,841	26,906	18.5%	8.3%
Germany	14,326	14,662	15,218	16,000	16,929	11.7%	5.8%
Republic of Korea	2,520	2,949	3,558	4,688	5,935	4.1%	26.6%
France	5,089	5,171	5,185	5,741	5,902	4.1%	2.8%
United Kingdom	5,376	5,206	5,026	5,085	5,045	3.5%	-0.8%
Netherlands	3,977	4,479	4,285	4,516	4,393	3.0%	-2.7%
China	1,018	1,295	1,706	2,493	3,910	2.7%	56.8%
Switzerland	2,755	2,861	2,899	3,277	3,403	2.3%	3.8%
Sweden	2,990	2,612	2,850	2,873	3,123	2.1%	8.7%
Italy	1,982	2,163	2,189	2,345	2,723	1.9%	16.1%
Canada	2,260	2,270	2,105	2,320	2,532	1.7%	9.1%
Australia	1,759	1,680	1,837	1,998	2,139	1.5%	7.0%
Finland	1,762	1,557	1,672	1,890	1,915	1.3%	1.3%
Israel	1,174	1,130	1,227	1,458	1,725	1.2%	18.3%
All Others	8,045	8,722	9,254	10,278	9,165	6.3%	-10.8%
Total	110,392	115,199	122,624	136,500	145,300	100.0%	6.4%

 

Main fields of technology in which PCT applications were published in 2006

	Technical Field	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Increase Compared with 2005
I	Electricity - Electronics
1	Electrical devices, electrical engineering, electrical energy	6,973	7,365	7,568	8,768	9,806	12%
2	Audio-visual technology	5,391	6,057	6,074	6,713	7,313	9%
3	Telecommunications	11,166	10,821	10,441	11,670	13,465	15%
4	Information technology	11,095	9,917	9,531	10,992	13,375	22%
II	Instruments
5	Semiconductors	3,612	4,051	4,109	4,719	6,021	28%
6	Optics	2,408	2,616	2,563	3,215	3,716	16%
7	Analysis, measurement, control technology	10,767	11,447	10,869	11,867	12,715	7%
8	Medical technology	7,360	8,600	8,877	9,554	10,971	15%
9	Nuclear engineering	448	517	496	499	560	12%
III	Chemicals - Materials
10	Organic fine chemistry	4,537	5,225	5,652	6,112	6,194	1%
11	Macromolecular chemistry, polymers	3,894	3,984	4,002	4,532	5,384	19%
12	Chemical engineering	3,646	3,879	3,702	4,266	4,723	11%
13	Surface technology, coating	2,912	3,293	3,326	3,642	4,288	18%
14	Materials, metallurgy	2,909	3,037	3,031	3,252	3,753	15%
IV	Pharmaceuticals - Biotechnology
15	Biotechnology	9,001	8,604	7,609	7,312	6,952	-5%
16	Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics	9,654	9,976	9,436	11,090	13,376	21%
17	Agriculture and food	1,522	1,660	1,840	1,949	2,284	17%
V	Process engineering
18	Industrial processes	4,767	5,365	4,909	4,911	5,533	13%
19	Handling, printing	3,947	4,540	4,555	5,401	6,108	13%
20	Agricultural and food processing, machinery and apparatus	1,133	1,274	1,334	1,521	1,475	-3%
21	Materials processing, textiles, paper	4,159	4,780	4,285	4,763	5,390	13%
22	Environmental technology	1,230	1,314	1,249	1,380	1,533	11%
VI	Machinery - Mechanics - Transport
23	Machine tools	2,369	2,485	2,323	2,773	2,959	7%
24	Engines, pumps, turbines	2,583	2,820	2,975	3,205	3,661	14%
25	Thermal processes and apparatus	1,390	1,580	1,542	1,825	2,027	11%
26	Mechanical Components	3,229	3,567	3,720	4,108	4,649	13%
27	Transport	3,944	4,597	4,883	5,542	6,004	8%
28	Space technology and weapons	448	494	436	536	495	-8%
VII	Consumer goods - Civil engineering
29	Consumer goods and equipment	4,952	5,757	6,040	7,228	8,151	13%
30	Civil engineering, building, mining	3,132	3,461	3,847	3,908	4,352	11%

 

Top 50 PCT Applicants in 2006
 

2006 Ranking	Position Changed	Applicant's Name	Country of Origin	PCT application published in 2006	Increased over 2005
1	0	KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V.	NL	2,495	3
2	0	MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.	JP	2,344	324
3	0	SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT	DE	1,480	81
4	0	NOKIA CORPORATION	FI	1,036	137
5	0	ROBERT BOSCH GMBH	DE	962	118
6	2	3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY	US	727	122
7	0	BASF AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT	DE	714	58
8	11	TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA	JP	704	305
9	-3	INTEL CORPORATION	US	690	-6
10	-1	MOTOROLA, INC.	US	637	57
11	6	MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA	JP	616	178
12	9	QUALCOMM INCORPORATED	US	608	229
13	24	HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.	CN	575	326
14	-1	TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)	SE	572	61
15	9	FUJITSU LIMITED	JP	571	213
16	12	LG ELECTRONICS INC.	KR	567	238
17	1	E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY	US	523	100
18	5	HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.	US	509	150
19	-7	HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.	US	508	-11
20	-6	SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.	KR	505	22
21	15	SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA	JP	496	227
22	17	PIONEER CORPORATION	JP	494	254
23	-8	THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY	US	492	31
24	-14	DAIMLERCHRYSLER AG	DE	451	-123
25	87	FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.	JP	445	339
26	0	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA	US	416	71
27	-16	EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY	US	394	-137
28	-3	NEC CORPORATION	JP	373	20
29	-7	INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION	US	365	-9
30	59	BOSTON SCIENTIFIC SCIMED, INC.	US	327	196
31	-15	SONY CORPORATION	JP	320	-129
32	29	FRANCE TELECOM	FR	303	135
33	-13	THOMSON LICENSING	FR	303	-87
34	-5	PHILIPS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & STANDARDS GMBH	DE	286	-33
35	-8	KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.	US	283	-53
36	7	BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERÄTE GMBH	DE	282	67
37	-7	GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY	US	279	-39
38	-3	CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA	JP	266	-3
39	61	LG CHEM, LTD.	KR	262	142
40	1	HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.	JP	261	37
41	-3	MEDTRONIC, INC.	US	260	13
42	46	FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.	US	254	121
43	13	MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.	JP	248	74
44	20	FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.	DE	247	83
45	-1	CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.	US	243	31
46	9	MICROSOFT CORPORATION	US	242	67
47	-5	ASTRAZENECA AB	SE	240	24
48	17	KANEKA CORPORATION	JP	238	78
49	-1	DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD.	JP	233	39
50	-10	NOVARTIS AG	CH	227	0

PCT International Applications by Residence of First Applicant

All Countries of Origin　

Code	Country of Origin	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006 estimate
AD	Andorra	3	4	2	3	3
AE	United Arab Emirates	6	6	17	24	12
AM	Armenia	5	2	2	3	7
AN	Netherlands Antilles	1		2	2	11
AR	Argentina	9	15	11	21	15
AT	Austria	552	644	709	851	815
AU	Australia	1,759	1,680	1,837	1,998	2,139
AZ	Azerbaijan	1	6	5	3	9
BA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5	7	3	7	8
BB	Barbados	123	192	243	205	40
BE	Belgium	696	776	831	1,073	897
BG	Bulgaria	31	45	24	21	21
BM	Bermuda	1	3	10	4	5
BN	Brunei Darussalam	1			7	1
BR	Brazil	201	219	278	280	265
BS	Bahamas	17	15	21	29	16
BY	Belarus	11	16	26	22	13
BZ	Belize	2	3	9	5	2
CA	Canada	2,260	2,270	2,105	2,320	2,532
CH	Switzerland	2,755	2,861	2,899	3,276	3,403
CL	Chile	6	9	6	9	8
CN	China	1,018	1,295	1,706	2,493	3,910
CO	Colombia	36	24	22	23	23
CR	Costa Rica	4	6	6	4	4
CU	Cuba	11	20	18	11	16
CY	Cyprus	23	28	43	30	44
CZ	Czech Republic	73	83	95	117	86
DE	Germany	14,326	14,662	15,218	16,002	16,929
DK	Denmark	979	1,036	1,049	1,122	999
DZ	Algeria	3	5	6	4	3
EC	Ecuador	2	5	9	1	9
EE	Estonia	11	8	12	13	15
EG	Egypt	1	22	53	51	41
ES	Spain	719	785	823	1,125	980
FI	Finland	1,762	1,557	1,672	1,890	1,915
FR	France	5,089	5,171	5,185	5,741	5,902
GB	United Kingdom	5,376	5,206	5,026	5,085	5,045
GE	Georgia	9	3	3	4	10
GR	Greece	75	67	79	55	83
HR	Croatia	69	72	76	71	61
HU	Hungary	185	114	136	161	111
ID	Indonesia	16	2	6	8	6
IE	Ireland	308	311	322	336	371
IL	Israel	1,174	1,130	1,227	1,458	1,725
IN	India	525	764	724	679	627
IS	Iceland	39	58	46	44	40
IT	Italy	1,982	2,163	2,189	2,345	2,723
JO	Jordan	2			2	6
JP	Japan	14,063	17,414	20,263	24,841	26,906
KE	Kenya	1	2	7	6	4
KP	Democratic People's Republic of Korea		3	3	3	4
KR	Republic of Korea	2,520	2,949	3,558	4,688	5,935
KY	Cayman Islands		2	9	5	9
KZ	Kazakhstan	16	7	7	7	13
LI	Liechtenstein	52	55	47	70	75
LT	Lithuania	10	4	9	7	9
LU	Luxembourg	143	117	125	117	105
LV	Latvia	10	12	12	16	11
MC	Monaco	13	17	16	13	9
MD	Republic of Moldova	1	2	3	5	5
MO	Morocco	10	7	7	9	7
MT	Malta	6	3	3	8	12
MU	Mauritius	5	5	12	3	3
MX	Mexico	132	131	118	141	150
MY	Malaysia	18	31	45	38	54
NL	Netherlands	3,977	4,479	4,285	4,516	4,393
NO	Norway	549	533	476	584	521
NZ	New Zealand	300	300	338	350	316
PA	Panama	7	16	14	16	15
PH	Philippines	20	21	11	26	15
PL	Poland	116	154	107	96	88
PT	Portugal	34	36	49	55	61
RO	Romania	25	16	18	15	18
RU	Russian Federation	539	586	518	655	483
SA	Saudi Arabia	10	28	31	39	45
SC	Seychelles		3	11	2	11
SD	Sudan	1	2	4	6	2
SE	Sweden	2,990	2,612	2,850	2,873	3,123
SG	Singapore	330	282	430	442	402
SI	Slovenia	44	65	62	86	69
SK	Slovakia	26	26	26	32	26
SM	San Marino	4	3		3	4
SY	Syrian Arab Republic			5	4	8
TH	Thailand	9	7	12	9	12
TN	Tunisia	6	5	5	9	3
TR	Turkey	85	111	115	174	186
UK	Ukraine	75	58	89	59	65
US	United States of America	41,296	41,028	43,350	46,697	49,555
UY	Uruguay	9	11	5	5	2
VG	Virgin Islands, British	2	2	11	18	10
VN	Viet Nam	2	7	2		9
YU	Serbia and Montenegro	30	34	29	36	25
ZA	South Africa	384	357	411	360	349
**	Unknown and others	260	286	325	320	269
Total		110,392	115,199	122,624	136,500	145,300

PCT Member States (136 Members on 31 December 2006)

　

Albania (AL)	Libya (LY)
Algeria (DZ)	Liechtenstein (LI)
Antigua and Barbuda (AG)	Lithuania (LT)
Armenia (AM)	Luxembourg (LU)
Australia (AU)	Madagascar (MG)
Austria (AT)	Malawi (MW)
Azerbaijan (AZ)	Malaysia (MY)
Bahrain (BH)	Mali (ML)
Barbados (BB)	Malta (MT)
Belarus (BY)	Mauritania (MR)
Belgium (BE)	Mexico (MX)
Belize BZ)	Monaco (MC)
Benin (BJ)	Mongolia (MN)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)	Montenegro (ME)
Botswana (BW)	Morocco (MA)
Brazil (BR)	Mozambique (MZ)
Bulgaria (BG)	Namibia (NA)
Burkina Faso (BF)	Netherlands (NL)
Côte d’Ivoire (CI)	New Zealand (NZ)
Cameroon (CM)	Nicaragua (NI)
Canada (CA)	Niger (NE)
Central African Republic (CF)	Nigeria (NG)
Chad (TD)	Norway (NO)
China (CN)	Oman (OM)
Colombia (CO)	Papua New Guinea (PG)
Comoros (KM)	Philippines (PH)
Congo (CG)	Poland (PL)
Costa Rica (CR)	Portugal (PT)
Croatia (HR)	Republic of Korea (KR)
Cuba (CU)	Moldova (MD)
Cyprus (CY)	Romania (RO)
Czech Republic (CZ)	Russian Federation (RU)
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (KP)	Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN)
Denmark (DK)	Saint Lucia (LC)
Dominica (DM)	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VC)
Ecuador (EC)	San Marino (SM)
Egypt (EG)	Senegal (SN)
El Salvador (SV)	Republic of Serbia (RS)
Equatorial Guinea (GQ)	Seychelles (SC)
Estonia (EE)	Sierre Leone (SL)
Finland (FI)	Singapore (SG)
France (FR)	Slovakia (SK)
Gabon (GA)	Slovenia (SI)
Gambia (GM)	South Africa (ZA)
Georgia (GE)	Spain (ES)
Germany (DE)	Sri Lanka (LK)
Ghana (GH)	Sudan (SD)
Greece (GR)	Swaziland (SZ)
Grenada (GD)	Sweden (SE)
Guatemala (GT)	Switzerland (CH)
Guinea (GN)	Syrian Arab Republic (SY)
Guinea-Bissau (GW)	Tajikistan (TJ)
Honduras (HN)	The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK)
Hungary (HU)	Togo (TG)
Iceland (IS)	Trinidad and Tobago (TT)
India (IN)	Tunisia (TN)
Indonesia (ID)	Turkey (TR)
Ireland (IE)	Turkmenistan TM
Israel (IL)	Uganda (UG)
Italy (IT)	Ukraine (UA)
Japan (JP)	United Arab Emirates (AE)
Kazakhstan (KZ)	United Kingdom (GB)
Kenya (KE)	United Republic of Tanzania (TZ)
Kyrgyzstan (KG)	United States of America (US)
Lao People's Democratic Republic (LA)	Uzbekistan (UZ)
Latvia (LV)	Viet Nam (VN)
Lesotho (LS)	Zambia (ZM)
Liberia (LR)	Zimbabwe (ZW)

¹ Provisional estimate - WIPO continues to receive PCT applications filed with national offices in 2006 throughout the first half of the year

 

2013-07-17