China leads the world in PCT applications
Based on the data of the international filings for patents, trademarks and industrial designs in 2020, released by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), China filed 68,720 PCT applications in 2020, up 16.1%, continuing to lead the world in this field. In 2019, China surpassed the U.S. in PCT applications for the first time.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, international patent applications via WIPO in 2020 continued to grow.
PCT applications
In 2020, international PCT applications grew by 4% to reach 275,900, which is the highest number ever. The top five countries in PCT filings were:
- China (68,720)
- The U.S. (59,230)
- Japan (50,520)
- The Republic of Korea (20,060)
- Germany (18,643)
International trademark application
The top five countries in international trademark application via WIPO’s Madrid System for the international Registration of Marks were:
- The U.S. (10,005)
- Germany (7,334)
- China (7,075)
- France (3,716)
- The U.K. (3,679)
Among the top ten origins, China (+16.4%) is the only country record double-digit growth in 2020.
International design system
In terms of international design system, despite a substantial decrease, Germany remained the largest user of the international design system. Among the top ten origins, the U.S. (+62.7%), Turkey (+34.7%) and China (+22.7%) are the only three countries to record growth in 2020.
In parallel, Chinese companies and universities are excelling in PCT filings. For the fourth consecutive year, China’s Huawei Company was the top filer in 2020 with 5,464 published PCT applications, followed by Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea (3,093), Mitsubishi Electric Corp. of Japan (2,801), LG Electronics Inc. of the Republic of Korea (2,759) and Qualcomm Inc. of the U.S. (2,173).