Worldwide IP Filings Reached New All-Time Highs in 2021, Asia Drives Growth

Global intellectual property (IP) filings for patents, trademarks and designs reached new heights in 2021, showing the resilience of the global innovation ecosystem during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patents

The WIPI, which compiles the latest data from some 150 national and regional IP, found a substantial rise in patent filings in China, combined with robust contributions from the IP office of the Republic of Korea and the European Patent Office. These were the main drivers of global growth in 2021.

China’s IP office received 1.59 million patent applications in 2021 of the total 3.4 million filed worldwide in 2021, which is similar in magnitude to the combined total of the next 12 offices ranked from second to 13th. China was followed by the offices of the U.S. (591,473), Japan (289,200), the Republic of Korea (237,998) and the European Patent Office (188,778). Together, these five offices accounted for 85.1% of the world total.

The majority of the top 20 offices – 15 out of 20 – received a greater number of patent applications in 2021 than in 2020. The largest increases were in South Africa (+63.9%), Israel (+18.3%), Mexico (+12.9%), Australia (+10.6%) and Singapore (+10%) – each reporting double-digit growth. In every one of these five offices, an increase in non-resident filings was the principal driver of overall growth.

Trademarks

An estimated 13.9 million trademark applications covering 18.1 million classes were filed worldwide in 2021. The number of classes specified in applications grew by a remarkable 5.5% in 2021, marking a twelfth successive year of growth. Trademark filing activity grew in 18 of the top 20 offices.

In fact, 11 offices recorded double-digit growth in 2021, ranging from 12.7% in the Republic of Korea to 61.8% in the UK. Source of growth varied across offices. For example, growth in domestic filings drove the overall growth in Brazil, India and Türkiye, while increase in foreign filings mainly contributed to the total growth in Canada, Switzerland and the UK.

China’s IP office had the highest volume of filing activity[1] with a class count of around 9.5 million; followed by the USPTO (899,678), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (497,542), and the offices of India (488,526) and the UK (450,815).

Industrial Design

An estimated 1.2 million industrial design applications containing 1.5 million designs were filed worldwide in 2021. The number of designs grew by 9.2% in 2021. China’s IP office received applications containing 805,710 designs in 2021, corresponding to 53.2% of the world total. It was followed by the EUIPO (117,049), the UK (74,781), the Republic of Korea (69,248) and Türkiye (65,924). Due to Brexit, the office of the UK received 2.3 times more designs in applications in 2021 than in 2020, making it the third most active office in terms of application design count in 2021, up four positions in the world ranking within a year.

Among the top 20 offices, the UK (+128.5%), India (+67.6%), Mexico (+38.4%) and Türkiye (+38.3%) recorded strong growth in design filing activity in 2021. Increase in non-resident filing activity drove the overall growth in Mexico and the UK, while an increase in resident filing activity was the main source of the total growth for India and Türkiye.

Plant Variety

Around 25,340 plant variety applications were filed worldwide in 2021, up +12% on 2020. China’s relevant office received 11,195 plant variety applications in 2021, corresponding to 44.2% of the world total. China was followed by the Community Plant Variety Office of the European Union (CPVO; 3,480) and relevant offices of the U.S. (1,902), Ukraine (944) and the Netherlands (836).

Among the top five offices, China (+24.9%) and the U.S. (+32.8%) saw double-digits growth in filings between 2020 and 2021, while Ukraine (–25.1%) received considerably fewer applications over the same period.

Geographical Indications(GI)

Data from the 93 national and regional authorities show there are an estimated 63,600 protected geographical indications (GIs) in existence in 2021. 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.

China (9,052) reported the largest number of GIs in force, followed by Hungary (7,743), the Czech Republic (6,272), Slovakia (6,112) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (6,087). The high rankings achieved by EU countries is due to the fact that the 5,076 GIs in force through the EU regional system are in force in every member state.

GIs in force relating to “wines and spirits” accounted for around 51% of the 2021 world total, followed by agricultural products and foodstuffs (43.6%) and handicrafts (3.9%).