World Intellectual Property Indicators Report: Global Patent Filings Reach Record High in 2023

Geneva, November 7, 2024
PR/2024/927

Go to: Patents | Trademarks | Industrial designs | Plant varieties | Geographical indications

Global patenting activity reached new heights in 2023 as applications surpassed 3.5 million for the first time, marking the fourth consecutive year of growth despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, according to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

Interactive charts: Barchart

China (1.64 million), the US (518,364), Japan (414,413), the Republic of Korea (287,954) and Germany (133,053) led global patent filings. Moving up a spot to sixth place, India (64,480) saw a 15.7% increase in patent applications, primarily driven by a strong increase in resident filings supported by India’s fast-growing economy.

India is also for the first time in the top 10 across the three main intellectual property (IP) rights included in the WIPI, with both patent and industrial design applications more than doubling between 2018 and 2023 and trademark applications increasing by 60%.

Global industrial design filing activity [1] also grew in 2023, rising by 2.8% to 1.52 million designs, with seven of the top 20 countries seeing double digit growth. Trademark filing activity [2] totaled 15.23 million classes, reflecting a 2% decline on 2022, though the decrease was much less severe than in the previous year.

Continuing a longer-term trend, offices located in Asia accounted for 68.7%, 66.7% and 69% of global patent, trademark and industrial design filing activity in 2023.  Within Asia, IP filings are highly concentrated, with the offices of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea together accounting for 91.1%, 77.0% and 87.2% of Asian patent, trademark and industrial design filing activity last year.

World Intellectual Property Indicators – 2024

An authoritative annual survey of IP activity around the globe.

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Patents

The WIPI found a substantial rise in patent filings by residents of China, the Republic of Korea, the US, Japan and India, which were the main drivers of global growth in 2023.

Among the top 20 origins, India (+15.7%) recorded the fastest growth in patent applications in 2023, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth. India is also the only origin among the top 20 to report growth in filings every year over the past decade. Finland (+11.2%) is the only other top 20 origin with a double-digit growth in 2023, driven by increases in both resident and abroad filings.

Applicants based in China filed around 1.64 million patent applications in 2023, covering both domestic and foreign jurisdictions. China was followed by the US (518,364), Japan (414,413), the Republic of Korea (287,954) and Germany (133,053). Each of the top five origins filed more patent applications in 2023 than in 2022, with the Republic of Korea (+5.7%) recording the fastest growth, followed by China (+3.6%), the US (+2.5%), Japan (+2.2%) and Germany (+1.4%).

For the top five origins, except for the Republic of Korea, the overall growth was primarily due to a strong increase in resident filings. For the Republic of Korea, growth in both resident and abroad filings contributed to the overall increase.  

In 2022 – the latest year for which complete data are available owing to the delay between application and publication – computer technology continues to be the most frequently featured technology in published patent applications worldwide, accounting for 12.4% of the world total. It was followed by electrical machinery (6.8%), measurement (5.9%), medical technology (5.4%) and digital communication (5.3%). Among the top 10 fields of technology, computer technology (+10.7%) is the only field to have witnessed double-digit growth between 2012 and 2022.

The number of published patent applications related to energy technologies – solar, fuel cell, wind, geothermal and hydro energy – increased from around 29,400 in 2007 to around 44,700 in 2022.

Trademarks

An estimated 11.63 million trademark applications covering 15.23 million classes were filed worldwide in 2023. The number of classes specified in applications fell by 2% in 2023, marking the second consecutive annual decrease since 2009.

The highest volume of filing activity came from applicants based in China with a combined domestic and abroad application class count of around 7.4 million; followed by US applicants (849,876), those based in the Russian Federation (543,692), and applicants from India (496,293) and Germany (441,293). Among the top five origins, both India (+6.1%) and the Russian Federation (+30.1%) experienced growth in filings in 2023, while China (–3.4%), Germany (–7.3%) and the US (–10.1%) saw declines. For India, growth was driven by increases in both resident and abroad filing, whereas for the Russian Federation, the overall growth was solely due to an increase in resident filing. Declines in both resident and abroad filing contributed to the overall decrease for Germany and the US, while a drop in resident filing is the reason for the decline in China. 

Contributing to the global decrease, filings from 13 of the top 20 countries of origin fell in 2023, with three origins – Switzerland (-10.5%), Türkiye (-17.6%) and the US (-10.1%) – experiencing double-digit declines. In contrast, trademark filing grew for seven of these, including double-digit growth for Indonesia (+10%), Mexico (+11.1%), and the Russian Federation (+30.1%). In addition, Brazil (+8.5%) also saw healthy growth in 2023. In the case of Brazil, growth was driven by an increase in domestic filing only. Growth in both domestic and abroad filing contributed to the growth for applications filed by residents of Indonesia and Mexico.

Asia dominated the global trademark filing landscape, constituting 66.7% of the total, a sizeable increase from its 49% share a decade earlier in 2013. This trend contributed to a decline in the overall shares of the other five geographical regions over the same period. Europe accounted for 17.2% of the world total in 2023, followed by the Latin America and the Caribbean region at 7.1% and the Northern American region at 5.8%. The remaining shares were distributed between Africa (1.9%) and Oceania (1.3%).

In 2023, the research and technology sector attracted the largest filing volumes by applicants seeking trademark protection abroad, constituting 20.1% of global reported non-resident trademark filing. It was followed by the health (13.7%), clothing and accessories (12.4%) and leisure and education (10.1%) sectors. Trademarks relating to agriculture (10.1%), business services (9.7%) and household equipment (8.7%) accounted for the next largest shares of the total. In contrast, industries linked to chemicals (3.1%), construction (5.5%) and transportation (6.6%) received the smallest proportions of filing abroad.

There were an estimated 88.2 million active trademark registrations across 155 IP offices globally, representing an increase of 6.4% compared to 2022. Once again, China had by far the highest number of trademark registrations in force in 2023, with a total of 46.1 million. It was followed by the offices of India and the US, with a count of nearly 3.2 million registrations in force each.

Industrial Designs

In 2023, an estimated 1.19 million industrial design applications were filed worldwide. These applications contained about 1.52 million designs, corresponding to a 2.8% increase on 2022.

With 882,807 designs in applications filed, applicants residing in China were the most active in the world in terms of design count in 2023. They were followed by applicants from the US (69,076), Germany (64,986), Italy (60,486) and the Republic of Korea (60,120). Together, these top five countries accounted for almost three-quarters (74.6%) of the global activity in 2023. Driven mainly by a rapid increase in filings by applicants from China, the combined share of the top five origins has grown by 3.6 percentage points over the last decade.

Among the top five origins, Italy (+15.7%) had the fastest growth in filings in 2023, followed by China (+5%) and the US (+2.6%). In contrast, Germany (–7.6%) and the Republic of Korea (–3.4%) saw declines. The double-digit growth in Italy was driven by a sharp increase in resident filings, while considerable growth in abroad filings drove the overall growth in the US.

The filing activity of 13 of the top 20 origins increased in 2023, with seven experiencing double-digit growths. The sharpest increases came from applicants from Indonesia (+37.3%), India (+36.4%) and the Russian Federation (+31.6%).

Asia accounted for 69% of all designs in applications filed worldwide in 2023. Asia was followed by Europe (23.5%) and North America (4.5%). The combined share for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Oceania was 3% in 2023, down from 3.4% a decade ago. Over the 2013–2023 period, Northern America (+5.3%) and Asia (+2%) saw the sharpest average increases in design counts among all geographical regions.

In 2023, there were about 6.1 million active industrial design registrations worldwide. This represents an increase of 10.5% on 2022. Registrations in force in China grew by 14.2%, reaching 3.2 million and contributing to more than half (53.2%) of the global total in 2023. China was followed by the US (424,718), the Republic of Korea (414,117), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (329,358) and the UK (309,554).

In 2023, the sectors with the largest shares of the world total were textiles and accessories (17.3%), furniture and household goods (16.9%), tools and machines (11%), electricity and lighting (9.2%) and ICT and audiovisual (8.8%). Together, these five sectors accounted for 63.2% of all classes recorded globally.

Plant varieties

Around 29,070 plant variety applications were filed worldwide in 2023, up +6.6% on 2022 and its eighth consecutive year of growth. Applicants from China were the most active in 2023, filing 15,552 plant variety applications, corresponding to 53.5% of the world total. China-based applicants were followed by applicants from the Kingdom of the Netherlands (2,924), the US (1,763), France (993) and the UK (939).

Among the top five origins, China (+25.9%) is the only country to experience double-digit growth in 2023. The Kingdom of the Netherlands (+1.7%) returned to modest growth after a sharp decline in the previous year. In contrast, France (–14.9%), the UK (–43.3%) and the US (–16.8%) filed considerably fewer applications in 2023 compared to 2022.

Geographical Indications

Data from the 86 national and regional authorities show there are an estimated 58,600 protected geographical indications (GIs) in existence in 2023. GIs are signs used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin, such as Gruyère for cheese or Tequila for spirits.

In 2023, China (9,785) had the most GIs in force within its territory, followed by Germany (7,586), Hungary (7,290) and the Czech Republic (6,657). The high rankings achieved by EU countries is explained by the fact that the 5,376 GIs in force throughout the EU regional system are in force in every member state.

GIs in force relating to wines and spirits (48.1%) accounted for almost half of the 2023 global total, while agricultural products and foodstuffs accounted for 44.8% and handicrafts 4.2% of the total.