Huawei Became Top International Patent Seeker in 2008

China's Huawei has, for the first time, topped WIPO's global league of international patent applications - overtaking Philips which has traditionally topped the rankings. International patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) by all companies grew by 2.4% in 2008, to nearly 164,000 applications. While the rate of growth was modest, as compared to an average 9.3% rate of growth in the previous three years, the total number of applications for 2008 represents the highest number of applications received under the PCT in a single year.

Inventors from the Republic of Korea (+12.0%), China (+11.9%) and Sweden (+12.5%) enjoyed robust growth rates in their filing of PCT applications in 2008. The largest number of international PCT applications, just under a third of the total for 2008 (32.7% or 53,521 applications) were filed by inventors in the United States of America, maintaining a ranking that has spanned some thirty years.

In 2008, China improved its ranking by one place, to become the sixth largest user of the PCT.

"Historically, patent filings tend to dip during periods of economic difficulty simply because fewer resources are available for investment in the innovation cycle. Once the economic cycle improves, patenting activity tends also to recover. That said, economic crises have, in the past, been a catalyst for innovation as greater emphasis is placed on improving standards of efficiency, doing more with less and identifying and developing smarter business solutions," said Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO. "In the current economic climate, technology, innovation and creativity are critical in creating opportunities for economic renewal and addressing pressing global issues such as climate change," he added.

Huawei filed 1,737 PCT applications in 2008, while Panasonic was the second largest user of the PCT in 2008 with 1,729 international applications, followed by Philips with 1,551 PCT applications.

Of the top 100 companies using the PCT system in 2008, 38 were from the United States, 28 from Japan and 13 from Germany. One other Chinese company, ZTE figured in the top 100 user list.

The largest proportion of PCT applications published in 2008 related to medical technology (12.0%), computer technology (8.5%) and pharmaceuticals (7.9%) sectors. The fastest growing technology areas are information technology methods for management (22.7% increase) and micro-structures and nanotechnology (20.7%).

Growth rates in the filing of PCT applications have been particularly dynamic over the last nine years. It took 18 years from the beginning of PCT operations in 1978 to reach 250,000 total applications, but only four years to double that figure (500,000), and another four to double it again (1,000,000).

Posted to the site on 28th January 2009