WIPO: Record year for international patent applications in 2016

Recently published statistics from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) show that last year saw an all time high of international patent applications, but also an increasing demand for trademark and industrial design protection.

The biggest filer of international patent applications in 2016 was ZTE Corporation (China), followed by previous year’s top filer Huawei Technologies (China) and Qualcomm Inc. (US).

US based applicants maintain the number one filers for the 39th year running with 233,000 applications filed – accounting for 24.3% of all applications filed under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2016. Japan and China based applicants accounted for 19.4% and 18.5% of the applications.

The most active sectors in 2016 were digital communications and computer technology.

For more information and statistics, please visit WIPO.