In accordance with the information from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the patent application number in accordance with Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in the whole world set a new time high. China has been already listed in the Top Ten in the year 2005 and in 2008, having exceeding Britain, it rose into the sixth.
It is suggested by the statistics of the WIPO, the Top three of the PCT application number haven’t changed. America is the first with its application number of 53521; Japan is the second with its application number of 28774; Germany is the third with its application number of 18428; the following countries are Korea, France, China, Britain, Netherland, Sweden and Swiss.
In the year 2008, the countries with the largest application number are still Korea and China among all the developing countries. The followings are India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Mexico and Malaysia. The dramatic increase of the patent application number of China and Korea does not only reflects the promotion of the IP innovation and awareness of IP protection in both countries but also makes a great contribution to the IP reform in the whole world.
The State Intellectual Property Office of People’s Republic of China officially accepted whole electronic application (PCT-SAFE) on May 1, 2007. In the year 2008, the PCT-SAFE application number is 4096 accounting for 67% of the total application number. The use of PCT-SAFE dose not only provide standard model for the preparation of the application document of the applicant but also greatly facilitates the exemption and decrease of the fees and delivery of the application document.
The great potential of Chinese market has been increasing emphasized with more and mare trans-border enterprises choose China. In the meantime, the outstanding performance of the high-tech enterprises such as Hua Wei Technology LMT and Zhong Xing Communication Company has made a great contribution to Chinese application number. In the order of the PCT application number in the whole world, the two aforesaid companies has been listed the 1st and the 38th respectively. Chinese enterprises are now exploring the foreign market and increasingly emphasize the IP protection with the expectation to gain more profits in the patent by investment on the research and cooperation.
The fast increase of PCT application number in China in the past years demonstrates the development of the science and technology and also displays the role in which intellectual property plays to promote the development of science and technology. Thanks for the promotion of the emphasis in intellectual property protection, the career of the IP developed quickly not only in structuring the PCT system, but also in the increase of PCT application number which excels in the developing countries and are narrowing the gap with the developed countries.(Website of State Intellectual Property Office of People’s Republic of China)
