World Intellectual Property Indicators

Data sources

The IP statistics data presented in the WIPI are taken from the WIPO Statistics Database and based primarily on data collected from national and regional IP offices, other competent authorities and publishers’ associations from around the world, through annual surveys consisting of multiple questionnaires. Data are also compiled by WIPO in processing international applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Madrid System for trademark protection and the Hague System for industrial design protection.

Patent family and technology data are extracted from the WIPO Statistics Database and from the PATSTAT database of the European Patent Office (EPO). Gross domestic product, income group classification and population data are from the World Development Indicators database of the World Bank. Geographical regions are those defined by the United Nations.

Accessing the report and its data

The WIPI is available on WIPO website. Its underlying data can be extracted from the IP Statistics Data Center, which is WIPO’s online statistical database.

The IP Facts and Figures report, drawn from the WIPI, serves as a quick reference guide for the most frequently used measure of IP activity. An online statistical country profile also provides a set of IP statistics at the country level

More comprehensive data and analysis on the WIPO administrated Systems are available in a series of three publications: PCT Yearly Review, Madrid Yearly Review and Hague Yearly Review.

IP Statistics by IP office or by country of origin

Applications received by offices from resident and non-resident applicants are referred to as office data, whereas applications filed by applicants at their national or regional office (resident applications) or at a foreign office (applications filed abroad) are referred to as origin data. For statistical purposes, WIPO defines the origin of an IP application to be the country or territory of residence of the first named applicant in the application.

Due to the nature of the regional offices, the WIPI may use an equivalent count concept for some indicators when reporting data by country of origin. When this counting method is used, an application filed at a regional IP office is equivalent to filing an application in every member state of that office. To calculate the number of equivalent applications for the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the GCC Patent Office, each application is multiplied by the corresponding number of member states. For example, an application filed at the EUIPO in 2022 by an applicant residing outside the EU is counted as 27 applications abroad – equal to the number of EU member countries, whereas an application filed by an EU resident results in a count of 1 resident application and 26 applications abroad. However, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) do not register applications with an automatic region-wide applicability. Therefore, for these offices, each application is counted as one application abroad, if the applicant does not reside within a member state, or as one resident application and one application abroad, if the applicant resides within a member state.

Latest filing trends by country of origin

The patent, trademark and industrial design data presented in this table show the filing activity trend by country of origin and by year of filing. Data come from the WIPO Statistics Database, which is the source of the WIPI. The data presented in this table include those received too late to be included in the WIPI and are not based on the equivalent count concept, described above.

Trademark application data refer to class counts – that is, the number of classes specified in applications. This provides the best comparison of international trademark filing activity across origins, because some jurisdictions may allow multiple classes of goods and services to be specified in a single application, whereas others require a separate application for each class. For the same reason, industrial design data refer to design counts, that is, the number of designs contained in applications.

Controversies

Taiwanese patents

Since Taiwan (ROC) is not a member of the United Nations, the number of patents filed in Taiwan is not reported. The number of patent applications filed with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) in 2018 was 73,431, which would place it in 6th place worldwide for that year, or 2nd place per capita. In 2014, Bloomberg ranked Taiwan #1 in Patent Activity, using UN data. The last WIPO Indicators report to mention the name Taiwan was in 2017, noting the large number of patents by Foxconn.

China has been criticized for its efforts in the UN to reduce the visibility of Taiwan, including via WIPO; in 2020 Beijing reportedly retaliated to the failed election of a Chinese director-general of the organization by preventing the Wikimedia Foundation from gaining observer status at the WIPO, on the grounds that Wikimedia has a Taiwan subsidiary.

References

References

1. "World Intellectual Property Indicators".
2. "WIPO IP Statistics Data Center".
3. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021". World Intellectual Property Organization.
4. Office, European Patent. "PATSTAT. Worldwide Patent Statistical Database".
5. "Intellectual Property Statistics".
6. "Publications: WIPO IP Facts and Figures".
7. "Statistical Country Profiles".
8. "Publications: PCT Yearly Review".
9. "Publications: Madrid Yearly Review".
10. "Publications: Hague Yearly Review".
11. "About WIPO's IP Statistics".
12. "About the WIPO IP Statistics Data Center".
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