Global patent filings rise to new high on surge in India applications

India reported a 15.7 percent growth in the number of patents filed in 2023 at 64,480

A strong growth in the number of patents filed in India pushed the global patenting activity to a new high in 2023, with the Asian country entering the top ten for the first time.

India, which came sixth in the global list, reported a 15.7 percent growth in the number of patents filed in 2023 at 64,480, “primarily driven by a strong increase in resident filings supported by India’s fast-growing economy”, a report by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) said.

The number of global applications crossed 35 lakh for the first time, marking fourth straight year of growth, the report said. Global patents grew 2.7 percent over 34.6 lakh applications in 2022.

China topped the list with 1.64 million applications, the US came in second with 518,364, while Japan filed 414,413. Republic of Korea was fourth with 287,954 applications and Germany fifth with 133,053, according to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

This is the first time India made into the top 10 across the three main intellectual property (IP) rights included in the WIPI, with both patent and industrial design applications more than doubling between 2018 and 2023 and trademark applications rising by 60 percent.

“Demand for IP rights is growing even in the face of an uncertain economic environment. In addition, this demand is increasingly indigenous. For example, the growth in patent filings has been driven by residents inside the countries themselves rather than from foreign innovators. With volume growing, the challenge still remains quality and the ability to translate IP filings into actual products and services,” WIPO Director General Daren Tang said.

India recorded the fastest growth among the top 20 nations in terms of patents filed, the report said, adding that it was the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth.

The report also said that India is the only country of origin among the top 20 to report growth in filings every year over the past decade.

Asia continues to be the top spot for patents, accounting for 68.7 percent, 66.7 percent and 69 percent of global patent, trademark and industrial design filing activity in 2023, it said.

In Asia, three countries- China, Japan and South Korea- dominate the number of applications filed with over 91 percent of the total patents.