According to statistics of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), innovative enterprises and individuals around the world overcame the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 to drive WIPO’s global intellectual property (IP) services for patents, trademarks and designs to record-setting levels.

In 2021, international patent applications filed via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) grew by 0.9% to reach 277,500 applications – the highest-ever level. WIPO’s global trademark (Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks) and design (Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs) filing systems each notched double-digit growth to mark new records as did WIPO’s anti-cybersquatting and arbitration and mediation activities.

China (69,540 applications) remained the largest user of the PCT and China’s Huawei Technologies, with 6,952 published PCT applications, was the top filer. China (5,272 applications) ranked the third in terms of international trademark applications using WIPO’s Madrid System. China’s Huawei Technologies, with 98 Madrid applications, ranked the fourth in the number of international trademark applications.

WIPO’s IP mediation and arbitration cases involved a range of areas, with copyright (41%), patents (37%), and trademarks (16%) most common. The main business areas were digital copyright, ICT, life sciences and mechanical patents.

For more information, please visit WIPO website.

https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2022/article_0002.html