Annual International Patent Application Filings Surpass 200,000 Mark

The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), the organisational body which oversees the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), has released its figures for the number of international patent application filings in 2013. This reveals yet another year of continual growth and record breaking numbers of international patent application filings - approximately 205,300 (an increase of 5.1% over 2012’s figures). The USA and Japan remain the top two filers of international patent applications, accounting for around half between them. China has now overtaken Germany as the 3rd largest filer. The UK keeps its position in the top 10, coming in at number 7 in the world rankings. WIPO’s press release can be found here.