In WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018, Director General Francis Gurry identified China as the principal driver of global filing growth. Chinese patent filings grew by 14.2% and trademark filing activity by 55.2%, taking their global shares to 43.6% and 46.3%, respectively.

The report’s charts highlight China’s 2017 position: approximately 1.38 million invention patent applications, or 44% of the global total; 1.68 million utility model applications, or 96%; approximately 620,000 designs contained in applications, or 51%; and 5.74 million trademark application class counts, or approximately 46%.

China and worldwide invention patent applications, 2013–2017.
China and worldwide invention patent applications, 2013–2017.
China and worldwide utility model applications, 2013–2017.
China and worldwide utility model applications, 2013–2017.
China and worldwide designs contained in applications, 2013–2017 (design counts).
China and worldwide designs contained in applications, 2013–2017 (design counts).
China and worldwide trademark filing activity, 2013–2017 (application class counts).
China and worldwide trademark filing activity, 2013–2017 (application class counts).

China also became the largest office for plant variety applications in 2017, receiving 4,465, compared with 2,026 in 2014, 3,111 in 2015 and 2,923 in 2016.

Chinese plant variety applications, 2014–2017.
Chinese plant variety applications, 2014–2017.

Source: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_941_2018.pdf