New reports show the number of patent applications worldwide in 2007 totaled 1.85 million -- 3.7 percent more than in 2006.

It was anticipated that the number of patent applications in 2008 would also increase.

The number of patent applications in 2007 for China, Japan and the United States accounted for 59.2 percent of the global total.

Since 2005, the annual increase in industrial design applications has ranged from 10 percent to 100 percent. The number of industrial design applications totaled 621,000 in 2007, a 15.3 percent increase over 2006.

China accounted for 43.1 percent of the world's industrial design applications in 2007.

(Source: China Daily)