WIPO's Patent Report: the Patent Office of SIPO Became the Third Recipient of Patent Filings in 2005

The 2007 edition of the Patent Report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows that with an increase of almost 33% over 2004, the patent office of SIPO became the third recipient of patent filings in 2005.

The report says that worldwide filings of patent applications have grown at an average annual rate of 4.7% with the highest growth rates experienced in North East Asian countries, particularly the Republic of Korea (ROK) and China. The report is based on 2005 figures, the last year for which complete worldwide statistics are available. It showed that patents granted worldwide have increased at an average annual rate of 3.6% with some 600,000 patents granted in 2005 alone. By the end of 2005, approximately 5.6 million patents were in force worldwide.

The largest recipients of patent filings are the patent offices of Japan, the United States of America (USA), China, the ROK and the European Patent Office (EPO). These five offices account for 77% of all patents filed in 2005, (a 2% increase over 2004), representing 74% of all patents granted.

(www.wipo.int)

2007-08-14