World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021

1 World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021 World Intellectual Property Indicators 20212 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International. The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, including for commer-cial purposes, without explicit permission, provided that the content is accompanied by an acknowledgement that WIPO is the source and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original citation: WIPO (2021). World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021. Geneva: World Intellectual Property should not carry any official emblem or logo, unless they have been approved and validated by WIPO. Please contact us via the WIPO website to obtain permission. For any derivative work, please include the following dis-claimer: The Secretariat of WIPO assumes no liability or responsibility with regard to the transformation or translation of the original content.

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3 The mention of specific companies or products of manu-facturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recom-mended by WIPO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. WIPO, 2021 World Intellectual Property Organization 34, chemin des Colombettes, Box 18 CH-1211 Geneva 20, SwitzerlandDOI: : 978-92-805-3329-3 ISSN: 2709-5207 (online)ISSN: 2709-5193 (print)Attribution International (CC BY )Printed in Switzerland3 Table of contentsPatentsTrademarksIndustrial designsPlant varietiesGeographical indicationsCreative economyAdditional informationForeword 5 Acknowledgements 6 Further information 6 Key numbers 7 Overview of IP filing activity 8Pa t e n t s 11 Highlights 12 Patent statistics 23 Trademarks 75 Highlights 76 Trademark statistics 86 Industrial designs 129 Highlights 130 Industrial design statistics 137 Plant varieties 171 Highlights 172 Plant variety statistics 176 Geographical indications 187 Creative

4 Economy 195 Highlights 196 Creative economy statistics 201 Additional information 215 Data description 216IP systems at a glance 218 Glossary 222 Abbreviations 229 Annexes 2304 ForewordAs the World responded to an unexpected and unpre-dictable global crisis, 2020 was a year like no other. In this uncertain environment, innovation and creativity quickly proved indispensable to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigating its worst excesses. It was thanks to the development and quick rollout of new ideas and technologies that we have ensured better health outcomes, helped people and businesses to stay connected and smoothed out some of the disruption caused by the pandemic. This year s benchmark World Intellectual Property Indicators report confirms that Intellectual Property (IP) filings patents, trademarks, designs and oth-ers have proven highly resilient, despite the deepest economic shock of modern times.

5 Patent filings increased by per cent in 2020 to just under million applications around the World . Designs contained in applications grew by 2 per cent and trademark classes specified in applications rose by per cent. This countercyclical growth underlines the increasingly important role IP, innovation and creativity will play in the global economy and the contribution each will make in driving the post-pandemic recovery forward. This year s report also illustrates that IP s center of gravity continues to shift. This is best evidenced by the ever increasing number of applications in Asia. While a decade ago, 5 out of 10 IP applications were filed in Asia, last year this number was close to 7 out of 10 IP continued globalization of IP is a highly significant development and one which reinforces WIPO s newly developed Medium-Term Strategic Plan. 5 Our mission is to develop a balanced and effective IP ecosystem and to ensure that IP, innovation and creativity act as powerful catalysts for jobs, invest-ments, economic development and social vibrancy for everyone, everywhere.

6 As we cast forward and towards what we hope will be a robust, sustainable and truly global economic and social recovery, the rich dataset of the World Intellectual Property Indicators report can help to guide policymakers and practitioners around the World . Inside, you will find key insights on the future direction of the global economy, as well as evidence of the increasingly important role that IP, innovation and creativity are playing in supporting economic, social and cultural development. I would like to thank our Member States and national and regional IP Offices for their continued support of this report and for engaging with our work at WIPO. Despite the considerable challenges we continue to face, the report s findings reveal a strong base from which to build back better. As we embark on this journey, WIPO looks forward to working with our full range of partners to foster a World where innovation and creativity from anywhere is supported by IP for the good of everyone.

7 Daren TANG Director General6 AcknowledgementsWorld Intellectual Property Indicators 2021 was prepared under the direction of Daren Tang (Director General) in the IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector led by Marco Aleman (Assistant Director General), and supervised by Carsten Fink (Chief Economist). The report was prepared by Kyle Bergquist, Mosahid Khan, Ryan Lamb, Bruno Le Feuvre and Hao Zhou, all from the Department for Economics and Data Analytics. Peter Button and Ariane Besse of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) provided comments and suggestions for the plant varieties section. Alexandra Grazioli and Matteo Gragnani of the Brands and Designs Sector provided comments and suggestions for the geographical indications section. Gratitude is also due to Enrico Turrin of the Federation of the European Publishers for sharing some of the creative economy Do Carmo Figueiredo, Judith Davila Monzon and Jovana Stojanovi pro-vided administrative support.

8 Gratitude is also due to the Information and Digital Outreach Division for the editing and design and to staff in the Printing Plant for their informationOnline resourcesThe electronic version of this report and the underlying data can be downloaded at This webpage also provides a link to the IP Statistics Data Center, offering access to WIPO s statistical informationEconomics and Statistics DivisionWebsite: : rate (%)Share of World total (%)Applications worldwide3,226,1003,276, ,400,6611, 4 97,15 ,4535 97,17 2 0 7, 9 6 9288,472 modelsApplications worldwide2 , 3 41,1103 ,0 0 0,1102 8 . , 26 8 ,19 02,926, 6 Germany11, 6 6 812, Federation10 ,13 69,19 5 class counts worldwide15,130,00017,19 8 , 3 0 , 8 3 3 , 0 109,345, ,644870, .1 Iran (Islamic Republic of)454,925541, designsApplication design counts worldwide1,361,0001, 3 87, 8 0 , 617770, (EU office)113 , 319113 ,19 6 0 . of Korea69,35970.

9 1 Plant varietiesApplications worldwide21,43022,5205 . , 8 3 48, Plant Variety Office (EU)3,5253,427 ,5901,432 : WIPO Statistics Database, September numbers8 Overview of IP filing activityTable 1. Ranking of total (resident and abroad) IP filing activity by origin, of (Islamic Republic of)21312 Russian Federation12816 Turkey23106 Netherlands101914 Spain221711 Australia201518 Sweden132417 Brazil261220 Canada141828 Austria162722 Poland282515 Belgium183326 Denmark173921 China, Hong Kong SAR322625 Thailand393019 Ukraine372823 Mexico331640 Singapore252938 Indonesia422031 Portugal363127 Finland194434 Viet Nam482129 Israel155431 Czech Republic343633 Argentina452239 Luxembourg305030 New Zealand313742 Norway294736 Ireland (b)275145 South Africa404143 Saudi Arabia244557 Malaysia354251 Romania474047 Morocco684624 Philippines563553 OriginPatentsMarksDesignsGreece (b)497737 Malta617435 Cyprus674956 Slovakia595958 Algeria815741 Belarus446472 United Arab Emirates514882 Liechtenstein (a)418261 Croatia736352 Slovenia (a, b, c)538555 Peru783887 Estonia707365 Lithuania697267 Kazakhstan (c)

10 3856115 Kenya627573 Uzbekistan656580 Mongolia1045354 Bangladesh1106044 Serbia767169 Syrian Arab Republic976259 Latvia778660 Egypt (b, c)4611564 Barbados (c)5410966 Republic of Moldova887968 Monaco848076 Nigeria (b)6314546 Azerbaijan7481100 Georgia909080 Sudan8310671 Sri Lanka (b)6412770 Armenia878492 Jordan998778 Mauritius918390C te d'Ivoire (a, b, c)7210786 Ecuador1165595 Cameroon (a, b, c)52119102 Qatar (c)7989107 Yemen1087893 Costa Rica (a)9961120 Kyrgyzstan8911477 Cuba8292109 Iceland7196119 Iraq (b, c)55116115 Oman (a)11866108 Bosnia and Herzegovina109105799 Note: Rankings are based on the total numbers of applications filed by origin. Patent data refer to numbers of equivalent patent applications. Trademark data refer to numbers of equivalent trademark applications based on class counts that is, the number of classes specified in applications. Industrial design data refer to numbers of equivalent industrial design applications based on design counts that is, the number of designs contained in applications.