Facing the Asian patent challenge head-on
01 November 2006
WIPO's latest patent report reveals an Asian patent boom. Peter Ollier considers what impact the rise of IP offices in China and Korea will have on the international patent system
When WIPO released its 2006 Patent Report last month, the top three offices by total number of patent applications received in 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available) had a reassuring familiarity. In first place was the JPO, then the USPTO, with the European Patent Office in third.
There was one slight problem: WIPO had miscalculated the statistics and had to rush out a correction. In fact South Korea's KIPO was in third place, China's SIPO in fourth and the EPO down in fifth. Perhaps WIPO couldn't quite believe its own statistics, or a worried official switched the graph around in a last-gasp attempt to maintain the traditional order of things.
Beneath the statistics there lies a clear message: China's participation in the international patent system is increasing at a rapid rate. Between 1995 and 2004, patent filings by Chinese residents in China grew by 557%, up from...
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