China’s ZTE overtook its rival Huawei as the biggest filer of international patent applications via WIPO in 2016 according to WIPO.
Overall, applicants based in the US maintained their number one ranking for the 39th year running, accounting for roughly a quarter (24.3%) of the 233,000 applications filed under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2016 with a 7.3% year-on-year increase, followed by applicants in Japan (19.4%) and China (18.5%).
China-based filers are behind much of the growth in international patent and trademark filings, making great strides in internationalizing their businesses as the country continues its journey from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’.
said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.
In 2016, U.S. based applicants filed 56,595 PCT applications, followed by applicants from Japan (45,239) and China (43,168), which has posted double-digit growth each year since 2002.
If this current trend continues, China will overtake the U.S. within two years as the largest user of the PCT System. China and India (1,529) are the only two middle-income countries among the top 15 origins.
China will overtake the U.S. within two years as the largest user of the PCT System. Click To Tweet In 2016, U.S. based applicants filed 56,595 PCT applications, followed by applicants from Japan (45,239) and China (43,168)Click To TweetU.S. applicants (7,741) filed the largest number of international trademark applications using WIPO’s Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks in 2016, closely followed by Germany (7,551), France (4,132), China (3,200; +68.6%) and Switzerland (3,074).
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