International patent filings dip in 2009 global downturn

Provisional data indicates that 155,900 international patent applications were filed in 2009 as compared to nearly 164,000 applications filed in 2008.

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 grow in spite of recession. Japan, the second largest user of the PCT, had 3.6 per cent growth with 29,827 applications; South Korea, fourth largest user of the system, experienced 2.1 per cent growth with 8,066 applications. Meanwhile, China became the fifth largest PCT user, with a growth rate of 29.7 per cent, and 7,946 applications in total.

PCT patent filings experienced a sharper than average decline in a number of industrialised countries, the filing rate dropping by 11.4 per cent in the US and by 11.2 per cent in Germany in 2009. In the UK the fall was 3.5 percent, Switzerland, 1.6 per cent, Sweden 11.3 per cent, Italy 5.8 per cent, Canada 11.7 per cent, Finland 2.2 per cent, Australia 7.5 per cent and Israel 17.2 per cent.

Despite the decline, the US maintained its top ranking, filing just under a third of all international applications in 2009 at 45,790, followed by Japan at 29,827 and Germany at 16,736 applications.

Panasonic Corporation of Japan returned to the top spot in the list of PCT applicants, nudging Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd of China into second place. They were followed by Robert Bosch GMBH of Germany, with 1,586 applications, and Philips Electronics N.V. with 1,295 applications.

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

The greatest decline in terms of technology was computer technology, where there were 12,560 applications, down 10.6 per cent on 2008; pharmaceuticals with 12,200 applications was down 8.0 per cent on 2008 and medical technology, with 12,091 applications, was down 5.9 per cent.

The largest growth was in micro-structural and nano-technology, up by 10.2 per cent, semiconductors, up 10 per cent and thermal processes and apparatus, up 7.2 per cent.