On February 28, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) unveiled the results of international registrations of patents, trademarks, and industrial designs in 2022. China once again ranked first in the number of international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2022, marking the fourth consecutive year that China has topped the list since its inaugural crowning in 2019.

WIPO data shows that in 2022, global players in innovation overcame the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and difficult economic conditions and filed 278,100 international patent applications in total, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%—this is a record number of applications filed in a single year throughout history. China's number of PCT international patent applications reached 70,015, a 0.6% increase over the last year, and China has remained the top origin of PCT international patent applications. The United States (59,056 applications), Japan (50,345 applications), South Korea (22,012 applications) and Germany (17,530 applications) ranked second to fifth, respectively.

Among the classes of PCT international patent filers, Chinese enterprises and universities performed noticeably well. China's Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ranked first with 7,689 PCT international patent applications, Samsung Electronics of South Korea (4,387 applications), Qualcomm Incorporated of the United States (3,855 applications), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan (2,320 applications) and Ericsson of Sweden (2,158 applications) ranked second to fifth, and Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. (1,963 applications) and BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (1,884 applications) ranked sixth and seventh. Among educational institutions, the University of California (552 applications) ranked first, with Zhejiang University (309 applications) in second place, followed by Soochow University (303 applications), Leland Stanford Junior University (217 applications) and the University of Texas System (187 applications). Among the top 10 educational institutions, the number of applications filed by the Soochow University had a greatest increasing rate and is almost twice as many as in 2021.

The total number of applications for registration under the Madrid System for the international registration of marks in 2022 was approximately 69,000. The United States ranked first (12,495 applications), followed by Germany (7,695 applications), China (4,991 applications), France (4,403 applications) and the United Kingdom (4,227 applications). Although the total number of applications filed under WIPO's Madrid System for the international registration of marks in 2022 is lower than that in 2021, but it is still 8% higher than that in 2020. In 2022, the number of international design applications filed under WIPO's Hague System rose by 11.2% to reach a new high of 25,028. Germany ranked first with 4,909 design applications, with China (2,558 applications) in second place, followed by Italy (2,414 applications), the United States (2,412 applications) and Switzerland (2,178 applications).

(Source: China Intellectual Property News official WeChat account)