Chinese telecoms company Huawei Technologies was the largest filer of PCT applications in 2008, according to statistics published by WIPO today.

The Shenzhen-based company filed 1,737 PCT applications during the year, taking first place from second-ranked Panasonic (formerly Matsushita) from Japan, which filed 1,729. Huawei rose three places from its position in 2007.

Dutch company Philips ranked third, followed by Toyota of Japan and Bosch of Germany.

Other notable risers were Ericsson of Sweden, which rose 12 places to ninth; German company Continental, which rose 284 places to 24th  (filing 485 applications in 2008 compared to 50 in 2007); and computer company Apple which rose 129 places to 45th.

Panasonic and Philips both filed fewer PCT applications in 2008 than 2007. Other companies whose PCT filings fell were Siemens (down 555 to 1,089); Qualcomm (down 67 to 907); Microsoft (down 40 to 805); Motorola (down 46 to 778); BASF (down 101 to 721) and 3M (down 106 to 663).

However, all these companies figure in the top 20 applicants for the year.

Outside of the top 20, Pioneer, Procter & Gamble, Intel, Honeywell and GE all filed significantly fewer patents than in the previous year. 

The provisional figures also show that the rate of growth of PCT filings fell in 2008 to 2.4%, compared to an average of 9.3% in the previous three years, with nearly 164,000 applications filed during the year.

 
In a statement, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry attributed the slowdown in growth to the tendency of patent filings to dip "during periods of economic difficulty".

He added: "Once the economic cycle improves, patenting activity tends also to recover. That said, economic crises have, in the past, been a catalyst for innovation as greater emphasis is placed on improving standards of efficiency, doing more with less and identifying and developing smarter business solutions."

The largest number of filings (32.7%) came from the US, followed by Japan, Germany, Korea, France and China. 
Applications from Korea increased by 12% compared to 2007, with those from China up 11.9% and those from Sweden up 12.5%.

Medical technology accounted for 12% of applications during 2008, with computer technology (8.5%) and pharmaceuticals (7.9%) also significant.

The fastest-growing technology areas were IT methods for management (22.7% growth) and micro-structures and nanotechnology (20.7%).

WIPO also said that about 70% of all PCT applications are now filed partially or fully electronically. 

Huawei was one of only two Chinese companies to feature among the top 100 users of the PCT system, the other being another Shenzhen telecoms company, ZTE. 

Of the top 100 companies, 38 were from the US, 28 from Japan and 13 from Germany.

(Source: www.managingip.com)