India's IP filings increases by 13.5% in 5yrs: WIPO

India had filed over 182,322 Intellectual Property (IP) applications from 2005 to 2009 and out of these 79,683 IP rights have been granted, it has depicted a growth rate of 13.5 per cent in five years, revealed a report released recently by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The report 'WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2011' provides an overview of intellectual property (IP) activity globally on the latest available year (between 2005 and 2009).

Across the globe, over three million Intellectual Property (IP) applications have been filed every year since 2005 for the protection of trademark, added the report.

India Specific IP Statistics

The report covers four types of Intellectual Property namely patents, utility models, trademarks and industrial designs. With regard to India, the report has put forth that India showed the highest five-year growth (13.5%) from 2005 to 2009, while China had one of the highest annual growth rates (20.8%) from 2008 to 2009. In India 141,943 IP applications were filed in trademark segment, 34,287 in patent and 6,092 IP applications were filed in industrial design in the year 2009. Of these, 67,490 IP rights/ grants were issued for trademark, 6,168 in patent segment and 6,025 in industrial design in 2009. Not all IP offices offer protection for utility models including India, Madagascar, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, UK and USA.

In the year 2005 over 24,382 IP patent applications were filed. in 2006 and 2007 over 28,928 and 35,218 were registered respectively. While in 2008 and 2009 over 36,812 and 34,287 IP patent applications were filed respectively. There was 8.9 per cent growth rate of IP applications filing since 2005 but in 2008-2009 the growth rate declined by 6.9 per cent in India.

India had filed over 85,669, 103,419, 123,514, 130,172 and 141,943 IP applications in trademark segment were filed in the year 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. The report shows a constant growth rate of 13.5 per cent in 2005-2009 in trademark IP applications filing.

With regard to Industrial Design IP applications, India has filed over 4,949, 5,521, 6,402, 6,557 and 6,092 during the year 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Since 2005, it has reported a growth rate of 5.3 per cent however in 2008-2009 the growth rate declined by 7.1%.

In 2010, over 1,285 International Applications under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) system were originated from India.

Report Highlights:

International trademark registrations under WIPO's Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks declined in 2009 but it recuperated some of their losses with an increase in 2010 from about 36,000 to 37,500 (4.5% growth from 2009-10). The Madrid system makes it possible for applicants to register a trademark in a large number of countries by filing a single application at their national or regional IP office that is party to the Madrid system. Statistics for the international trademark system, as well as the international patent and design systems are available for 2010.

* The top 10 patent offices across the world accounted for approximately 87% of total patent applications in 2009, with the US, Japan and China filing about 60% of the total. Together, the top 20 offices received 94% of all patent applications

* Between 2008 and 2009, Japan witnessed a 10.8% drop in the number of patent applications received, the US remained almost unchanged, and China saw an increase in applications by 8.5%. Whereas most of the top 20 offices show a drop in applications from 2008 to 2009, about half indicate positive five-year growth

* With respect to international patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the report shows a decrease in 2009, but a rebound in 2010 to 164,300