Global Patent Filings Hit Record High In 2022, Asia Leads With 54% Rise: UN

Asia continued to dominate the patents, accounting for 54.7 per cent of the applications filed globally while India saw patent registrations rising by 25.4 per cent

A record 278,100 patents were filed globally in 2022, according to the annual report released by the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The number of international patents filed last year grew merely 0.3 per cent, with the climate for innovation depicting the difficult economic conditions in 2022, the UN body stated in its annual overview.

The applications recorded are the highest number ever in a single year given the massive challenges to the economy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the continuing COVID pandemic, rising inflation, and supply chain woes, according to WIPO.

Asia leads in patent applications filed globally

Asia continued to dominate the patents, accounting for 54.7 per cent of the applications filed globally, WIPO said. China remains the top source of applications ahead of the United States and Japan under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which simplifies obtaining patent protection in multiple countries.

While patent registrations in India shot up by 25.4 per cent, and South Korea saw sharp growth of just over six per cent, but the overall picture was of more modest growth, said Carsten Fink, WIPO Chief Economist.

Firms from China filed 70,105 patent applications, followed by the United States (59,056), Japan (50,345), South Korea (22,012) and Germany (17,530). France, Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands were among the top 10 nations, reported news agency AFP.

India ranked 12th in patent filings recording 25.4 per cent rise while South Korea saw 6.2 per cent.

Companies that grabbed the top spot

Chinese tech giant Huawei was at the top spot with 7,689 patent applications, ahead of South Korean rival Samsung with 4,387, which jumped up to the second position with a 44.3 percent increase in applications.

Both firms were ahead of US firm Qualcomm (3,855), Japan's Mitsubishi Electric (2,320), and Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson (2,158).

It is to be noted that computer technology accounted for the largest share of applications at 10.4 percent, followed by digital communication, electrical machinery, medical technology, and then measurement.

Of the top 10 technology fields, eight witnessed growth in 2022. "After the particularly strong growth in health-related technology fields of last year, digital technology fields returned to the fastest growing fields among PCT applications in 2022," WIPO said.

As for trademark applications, US-based firms filed the maximum patents (12,495), followed by Germany (7,695), China (4,991), France (4,403) and Britain (4,227). French cosmetics giant L'Oreal once again topped the pack, with 160 trademark applications.

Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis moved up three places to number two with 131 applications, followed by Britain's Glaxo Group (128), Bulgaria's Euro Games Technology (120) and South Korea's Hyundai.