WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators Report (WIPI) also showed that patent and industrial designs filing activity rebounded in 2020, illustrating the resilience of human innovation even amid the dire global health situation.

Trademark filing activity rose by 13.7%, patents by 1.6% and designs by 2% according to the WIPI, which compiles new data from some 150 national and regional authorities and shows how innovators, designers and brands are increasingly relying on intellectual property tools to expand their enterprises and seek new growth.

Worldwide patent-filing activity returned to growth in 2020 after the first dip in a decade in 2019, driven by a decline in China. In 2020, China’s IP office reported growth again with 1.5 million patent applications. This was 2.5 times more than the amount received by the patent office of the second leading country, the United States (USPTO; 597,172). The U.S. was followed by Japan (JPO; 288,472), the Republic of Korea (KIPO; 226,759) and the European Patent Office (EPO; 180,346). Together, these five offices accounted for 85.1% of the world total.