Worldwide IP Filings Reached New All-Time Highs in 2021

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, applications for patents, trademarks and designs reached new hights in 2021, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Innovators around the world filed 3.4 million patent applications in 2021, up 3.6% from the previous year with offices in Asia receiving 67.6% of all applications worldwide. The number of patent applications increased by 5.5% year-on-year in China, 5.5% in India and 2.5% in South Korea. At the same time, the number of applications fell by 1.2% year-on-year in the United States, by 1.7% in Japan and by 3.9% in Germany. For the first time, China now has more active patents than the United States or 3.6 million patents against 3.3 million.

The greatest number of  PCT patent applications are from the Chinese Huawei Technologies, the second most from the American company Qualcomm Incorporated and the third most from the South Korean Samsung.

Applications for the registration of trademarks also increased in most parts of the world and overall by 5.5% from 2020. Applications for the registration of designs increased by 9.2%, mostly due to a large number of applications in Asia.