Patent applications in China have gained a lot of ground in
recent years, reflecting the rising level of innovation in the
country, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said
on Friday.
In 2005, for which the latest complete statistics are now
available, China's patent office saw a record 42.1 percent growth
in resident patent filings, the UN agency said in its annual world
patent report.
China's patent office processed more than 173,000 patent
applications in 2005, among which 93,172 were direct filings by
Chinese residents, the report said, adding that patent applications
by non-residents (foreign individuals and companies)
also?increased markedly in China.
Worldwide, about 1,660,000 patent applications were filed in
2005, an increase of 7 percent over 2004, the report said.
The largest recipients of patent filings are the patent offices
of Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and the European
Patent Office. These five offices accounted for 77 percent of all
patents filed in 2005.
According to the report, Northeast Asian countries, particularly
China and South Korea, have significantly increased their share of
worldwide patenting.
The South Korean patent office received over 160,000 patent
applications (including both resident and non-resident
applications) in 2005, a 14.8 percent increase year-on-year.
The geography of innovation is having a significant shift, WIPO
Deputy Director-General Francis Gurry told reporters in Geneva.
"A few years ago, they took the patent world by surprise, but it
is now much?expected that countries like China and the
Republic of Korea will continue their rapid developments in
innovation, a proof of which is the number of patent applications
filed," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2007)
