India Leads Global Rise in Patent Applications: 2023 WIPO Report

GS Paper III Science and Technology

Context:

According to a World Intellectual Property Organization report World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023, patent application filings by Indians surged by 31.6% in 2022, the sharpest increase globally, reflecting the country’s growing innovation ecosystem.

patent application

Global Status: Innovators worldwide filed 3.46 million patent applications in 2022, which is 1.7% higher when compared with the previous year.

patent application

Indian scenario: Indians filed 15,495 more patent applications in 2022 than in the previous year, while China received 33,605 more applications than in 2021.
Share of women: In absolute terms, India accounts for the sixth largest number of patent applications globally.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO):

It is the global forum for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation.
It is designed to promote the worldwide protection of both industrial property (inventions, trademarks, and designs) and copyrighted materials (literary, musical, photographic, and other artistic works).
The organization, established by a convention signed in Stockholm in 1967, began operations in 1970 and became a specialized agency of the United Nations in December 1974.
It is headquartered in Geneva.

Patent: A patent is an invention-based legal document that defines and provides the bearer with exclusive rights to exclude others from producing, selling, or distributing such an invention
Trademark: A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services.
- It distinguishes similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking.
Geographical indication(GI): A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

Women had a share of 23.9 percent of all the Patent Cooperation Treaty applications.
Major IP filing region: The bulk of IP filing activity in 2022 occurred in Asia, with the region accounting for 67.9%, 67.8% and 70.3% of global patent, trademarks and industrial designs filing activity.
Featured technology in published patent applications: Computer technology accounted for 11.1% of the world total in 2021.
- It was followed by electrical machinery (6.4%), measurement (5.8%), medical technology (5.2%) and digital communication (4.9%).
Trademark filings: India was in the top four with 467,918 filings in 2022, behind the US (945,571), Turkey (482,567), and Germany (479,334).
Geographical indication (GI): China had the most GIs in force within its territory, with 9,571, followed by Hungary (7,843), Germany (7,386) and the Czech Republic (6,383).