China reaches 5th in WIPO patent rankings

In a comprehensive report, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ranked China fifth in the global rankings of patent applications. Over the past 10 years, China has recorded a sevenfold increase in patent filings.

Japan topped the patent table, followed by the US, South Korea and the European Patent Office. The report indicates that patent filings have increased in line with economic growth over the past 20 years, with the number of annual applications worldwide remaining below one million in the first 10 years, but growing in the following decade at an average rate of 4.75% a year.

According to the WIPO report, foreign companies in China accounted for half of the patent filings in 2004, while filings in Japan and South Korea were mainly made by local inventors. The report comes as China faces questioning by the World Trade Organization at the annual Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights council meeting in November 2006, on China's compliance with intellectual property (IP) rules, including internet sales of counterfeit goods. The US and European Union have accused China's central government of not doing enough to protect IP infringement.