The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released World Intellectual Property Indicators 2013 on December 9, 2013. The report shows that Chinese residents filed approximately 561,000 patent applications worldwide in 2012, ranking first for the first time. Residents of Japan and the United States ranked second and third.
China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received 652,777 invention patent applications, approximately 653,000, making it the largest receiving office for the second consecutive year, with growth of about 24%. China also received 657,582 industrial design applications and 740,290 utility-model applications. Measured by applicant origin, trademark applications filed worldwide by Chinese residents covered approximately 1.58 million goods and services classes.
Against an uncertain global economic recovery, worldwide patent applications rose by 9.2% to approximately 2.35 million in 2012, the fastest growth in eighteen years. The total included approximately 1.51 million resident applications and 830,000 non-resident applications; these figures are separately rounded estimates.
Worldwide utility-model applications reached 827,500, up 23.4%. Industrial design applications contained approximately 1.22 million designs, up 17%, while trademark applications covered approximately 6.58 million classes, up 6%.
Trademark class counts and the number of designs contained in applications differ from counts of application documents. Comparisons should use a consistent statistical basis.
Source: WIPO, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2013 and the December 9, 2013 press release. https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2013/article_0028.html