Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) published its World Intellectual Property Indictors 2017 report. WIPO reports that global IP filings have reached new highs. A total of 3.1 million patent applications were filed in 2016, up 8.3% in a seventh straight yearly increase. China received the largest number of applications in 2016 at 1.3 million applications, followed by the U.S. at 605,571, Japan at 318,381, Korea at 208,830, and the European Union IP Office at 159,358. Canada was featured among the top 10 offices in 2016, receiving 34,745 applications.
Global trademark filings also increased, with an estimated 7 million trademark applications filed in 2016, up 16.4% from 2015. China again had the largest volume of filing activity in 2016, receiving around 3.7 million applications, followed by US, Japan and the European Union IP Office. Canada ranked 13th overall with 555,571 applications filed.
For more information, see WIPO’s press release.