WIPO uses the application design count to measure filing activity for industrial designs; that is to say, it counts not only the number of applications, but also the number of designs contained in applications. Design count is a better way of comparing filing activity across IP offices, because some offices allow several designs to be contained within a single application and others allow only one.
In 2023, approximately 1.2 million industrial design applications were filed worldwide. An estimated 1.5 million designs were contained in these applications, which represents an increase of 2.8% on 2022.
Three-quarters (75.1%) of worldwide industrial design filing – as measured by design count – occurred at the top five offices in 2023. The office of China alone accounted for 54.2% the world total, primarily as a result of Chinese resident filing. The EUIPO (7.7%) and the office of the UK (5.4%) received the second and third largest shares of total filing activity. Rounding out the top five offices, the US and the Republic of Korea each accounted for 3.9% of the total.
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 of origin accounted for almost three-quarters (74.6%) of global design filing 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 filing 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 filing, while considerable growth in abroad filings drove the overall growth in the US. Among the top 10 origins, India (+36.4%) and the UK (+21.6%) saw remarkable growth in design filing.
The chart above shows the total number of designs contained in applications filed worldwide by applicants domiciled in a selection of middle-income origins in 2023. Applicants based in middle-income countries of origin, namely the Islamic Republic of Iran (7,796), Brazil (5,768), Morocco (4,549), Thailand (4,219), and Ukraine (3,166) had relatively high volumes of design filing – as measured in design counts. Within the selected middle-income origins, notable highlights were the high annual growth seen for applicants based in Algeria (+42.2%) and Ukraine (+55.3%). Conversely, there was a considerable on-year decline for applicants domiciled in Bangladesh (–18.3%). For the application design counts for every origin (where available), see statistical table 1.
Calculating design counts per unit of USD 100 billion GDP enables a comparison to be made between the industrial design filing activity of residents of countries whose filing systems are different (single-design versus multi-design) and whose economies vary in size. In 2023, China continued to have the highest resident design count per USD 100 billion of GDP, with a ratio of 2,575. China was followed by the Republic of Korea (1,954), Türkiye (1,786), Italy (1,646), and Morocco (1,341). In contrast, Brazil (134), India (186), and the US (80) had notably lower ratios.
Grouping the 32 Locarno classes into 12 industry sectors serves to highlight the most important industry sectors for designs contained within industrial design applications filed. 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%).
Textiles and accessories featured as one of the top three sectors for design counts for all five selected top origins in 2023, ranking first for applicants based in Italy and the Republic of Korea. The furniture and household goods sector was a top three sector for four of the five selected origins, the US being the exception. Advertising was the top sector for applicants located in Türkiye, while information and communications technology (ICT) and audiovisual was the top sector for applicants based in the US. Tools and machines was a top three sector for applicants domiciled in China, while health, pharma and cosmetics featured as one of the top three sectors for the US.