By Fang Yingxin from People’s Daily
China recorded the highest application volume for intellectual property (IP) rights, including patents, trademarks, and designs of industrial products, according to an annual report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Dec.3.
Last year, global demand for IP tools hit new record. Innovators filed 3.17 million patent applications, representing an eighth straight yearly increase, according to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.
The number of trademark applications hit 12.39 million, while the number of industrial design applications reached 1.24 million.
China’s IP office received the highest number of patent applications in 2017, a record total of 1.38 million, followed by the IP offices of the United States (about 610,000), Japan (about 320,000), South Korea (about 204,000), and the European Patent Office (about 170,000).
China is becoming an incontrovertible world leader in applications for IP rights, said Analysts. The country is vigorously promoting the growth of global application volume for IP rights.
China has given strong support to domestic high-tech industries and made active efforts to protect IP rights. Last year, the country’s patent applications were mainly from such areas as electronic equipment, computer technologies, and data transmission.
Asia was the most dynamic region for patent applications, said the WIPI report. It suggested that in 2017, the number of patent applications received in Asia accounted for 65.1 percent of the world’s total, while the figure was only 49.7 percent 10 years ago. Such dramatic increase can be attributed to China’s economic growth.
China’s patent application in overseas destinations grew by 15 percent from a year ago in 2017. The growth was significantly higher than those of Japan (2.1 percent) and the U.S. (2 percent). Some other countries even witnessed negative growth in this regard such as Germany and South Korea.
China’s IP office filed the most trademarks applications in the world last year which covered around 5.7 million categories, followed by the U.S. and Japan.
The volume of trademark applications concerning industrial product design received by the IP office of China represented 50.6 percent of the world’s total in 2017, which was much larger than the proportion achieved by the European Union (EU), South Korea, Turkey, and the U.S. did.
Eleven countries and regions had generated total publishing revenue of $248 billion in trade, education and science, as well as technology and medical service last year, while China reported the highest net income of $202.4 billion, according to statistics on creative economy which was for the first time included in the report.
“China remained the main driver of global growth in IP filings. From already high levels, patent filings in China grew by 14.2 percent and trademark filing activity in China by 55.2 percent. These high growth rates propelled China’s shares of global patent filings and trademarks filing activity,” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry wrote in the forward of the report.
“In just a few decades, China has constructed an IP system, encouraged homegrown innovation, joined the ranks of the world’s IP leaders — and is now driving worldwide growth in IP filings,” said Gurry at a press conference at the United Nations (UN) on Dec.3.
世界知识产权组织发表年度报告——
中国知识产权申请量世界领先
人民日报记者 方莹馨
世界知识产权组织12月3日发表年度报告称，2017年中国国内专利、商标、工业品外观设计等各类知识产权的申请量都位列全球第一，有力推动了全球知识产权申请的增长。
这份名为《世界知识产权指标》的报告显示，2017年全球知识产权申请量再创新高。其中，专利申请量达到317万件，实现连续8年增长；全球商标申请活动总量为1239万类，工业品外观设计的申请总量达到124万。
具体来说，在已支付申请费的专利申请数量上，2017年中国国家知识产权局受理的申请数量达到创纪录的138万件，远高于排名其后的美国（61万件）、日本（32万件）、韩国（20.4万件）以及欧洲专利局（17万件）。分析认为，中国正在成为世界知识产权申请领域无可争议的领跑者。
中国大力支持国内高科技产业发展，积极保护知识产权，2017年中国的专利申请主要涉及电子设备、计算机技术和数据传输等。
报告称，亚洲是专利申请最活跃的地区。2017年，亚洲地区受理的申请数量占全球总量的65.1%，而2007年这一数字是49.7%，这样的大幅增长主要是受中国经济增长的驱动。海外专利申请量上，中国2017年比2016年增长了15%，远高于日本（2.1%）、美国（2%），而德国、韩国等国则呈负增长。
2017年中国国家知识产权局受理的商标申请活动数量最多，约为570万类，其次是美国和日本。工业品外观设计方面，中国国家知识产权局受理的申请占全球申请总量的50.6％，远超排名其后的欧盟、韩国、土耳其和美国。
此外，报告首次推出的创意经济统计数据显示，2017年11个国家和地区在贸易、教育与科学、技术与医疗这3个领域的出版业收入达到2480亿美元。中国报告的净收入最高，达到2024亿美元。
“中国是知识产权申请全球增长的主要推动力。在原有高水平的基础上，中国专利申请量增长14.2%，商标申请量增长55.2%。这些高增长率提高了中国在全球专利申请和商标申请中的份额。”世界知识产权组织总干事弗朗西斯·高锐表示，“在短短几十年中，中国从无到有建立了知识产权制度，鼓励本土创新，并加入了全球知识产权引领者的行列，如今正在推动全球知识产权申请的增长。”
