Patent filings dip in 2009

International patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fell by 4.5% in 2009 with sharper than average declines experienced by some industrialised countries and growth in a number of East Asian countries. Provisional data indicates that 155,900 international patent applications were filed in 2009 as compared to the nearly 164,000 applications filed in 2008.

Patent filings where the first applicant was listed as Australian dropped from 2053 in 2007 to 1800 in 2009.

"The decline in PCT filings is not as sharp as originally anticipated - last year's results bring us back to just under 2007 levels, when 159,886 international applications were filed," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. "Interestingly, the rate of decline in international filings is lower than that experienced in some national contexts. This is an indication of a broad recognition that it makes good business sense, whatever the economic conditions, to continue to protect commercially valuable technologies internationally."

International patent filings in a number of East Asian countries continued to enjoy positive growth in spite of the challenging global economic conditions. Japan, the second largest user of the PCT, experienced a 3.6% rate of growth with 29,827 applications; the Republic of Korea (ROK), ranked fourth largest user of the system, experienced 2.1% growth with 8066 applications; and China became the fifth largest PCT user with a strong growth rate of 29.7%, representing some 7946 international applications.

International patent filings experienced a sharper than average decline in a number of industrialised countries. For example, the filing rate dropped by 11.4% in the USA and by 11.2% in Germany in 2009. Declines were also experienced in the United Kingdom (-3.5%), Switzerland (-1.6%), Sweden (-11.3%), Italy (-5.8%), Canada (-11.7%), Finland (-2.2%), Australia (-7.5%) and Israel (-17.2%).

The United States of America (USA) maintained its top ranking, filing just under a third of all international applications in 2009 (45,790), followed by Japan (+3.6%, 29,827 applications), Germany (-11.2% or 16,736 applications), ROK (+2.1%, 8,066 applications), China (29.7%, 7,946 applications), France (+1.6%, 7166 applications), United Kingdom (-3.5% or 5,320 applications), the Netherlands (+3.0% or 4,471 applications), Switzerland (-1.6% or 3,688 applications) and Sweden (-11.3% or 3,667 applications).

Fields of technology

Declines and advances in PCT filings varied by technology area. The greatest declines related to computer technology (12,560 applications, down 10.6% on 2008); pharmaceuticals (12,200 applications, down 8.0% on 2008) and medical technology (12,091 applications, down 5.9% on 2008). The largest growth rates were experienced in micro-structural and nanotechnology (+10.2%), semiconductors (+10%) and thermal processes and apparatus (+ 7.2%).

Top applicants

Panasonic Corporation (Japan) returned to the top spot in the list of PCT applicants, nudging Huawei Technologies, Co, Ltd (China) into second place. Panasonic Corporation had 1891 PCT applications published in 2009, China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd had 1847, followed by Robert Bosch GMBH (Germany, 1586 applications), Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Netherlands, 1295 applications) and Qualcomm Incorporated (USA, 1280 applications). Four Japanese companies, Panasonic Corporation (ranked 1st), NEC Corporation (ranked 8th), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (ranked 9th) and Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (ranked 10th), featured in the list of top 10 largest filers.

The University of California accounted for the largest number of applications published in the category of educational institutions. Most top-filing universities, however, experienced declines in the number of international patent filings in 2009.

Developing countries

The largest number of international applications received from developing countries in 2009 came from the Republic of Korea (8066) and China (7946) followed by India (761), Singapore (594), Brazil (480), South Africa (389), Turkey (371), Malaysia, (218), Mexico (185) and Barbados (96).

Developing countries make up over 78% of the membership of the PCT, representing 112 of the 142 countries that have signed up to the treaty and accounted for 14% of the total number of filings (with China and ROK accounting for 10%).