China Out Ahead in Global Patent Arms Race

By: | April 15th, 2017

US Patents

US Patents (Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons https://goo.gl/images/rWdRBl)

According to reports by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China is beginning to take a major leadership role, perhaps a leading role, in the global patent Olympics. WIPO recently indicated the strongest demand for intellectual property rights has been coming from China. At the same time, South Korea is also ramping up its patent applications and is becoming a global leader. To compare patent application rates against GDP provides insight into which countries are being most productive in this area.

Meanwhile, India is performing relatively poorly in global patent applications and the United States, according to US Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), International IP Index, which ranks nations according to their ability to foster innovation and economic success, the United States is losing ground in protecting innovations through patents. The following chart shows a breakdown by major economies of patents filed at the European Patent Office in 2013, but much has changed since then, in favor of China.

Recent Breakdown in EU

Granted_EP_patents_2013_per_country_of_residence_of_the_applicant.svg

Granted_EP_patents (Image Courtesy Wikipedia https://goo.gl/images/dV29E9)

Current Global Patent Breakdown

According to Intellectual Property Watchdog (#3 in the list below) and TPR, China is now #1 in patent applications.

Trend-in-patent-applications-Apr-2015

Trend-in-patent-applications-Apr-2015 (Image Courtesy www.IPWatchDog.com)

Following are 25 of the intellectual property websites on the Internet:

 Intellectual Property Organizations
1 http://www.uspto.gov
2 http://www.epo.org
3 http://www.ipwatchdog.com
4 http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au
5 http://www.stopfakes.gov
6 http://www.bitlaw.com
7 http://www.inta.org
8 http://www.ic.gc.ca
9 http://www.espacenet.com
10 http://www.copyright.gov
11 http://www.marcaria.com
12 http://www.bpmlegal.com
13 http://www.iprhelpdesk.eu
14 http://www.oami.europa.eu
15 http://www.intellogist.com
16 http://www.patentlyo.com
17 http://www.aipla.org
18 http://www.ipindiaonline.gov.in
19 http://www.neustel.com
20 http://www.wto.org
21 http://www.jpo.go.jp
22 http://www.oppedahl.com
23 http://www.intellogist.wordpress.com
24 http://www.ipos.gov.sg
25 http://www.patentfile.org

Following is a video: Global Patents: An Introduction to International Intellectual Property.

David Russell Schilling

David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.

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