Patent statistics around the world showed mostly declines in patent filing rates in 2009. For the first time in 13 years, the United States Patent and Trademark Office saw a marginal dip in patent filings. Just 482,871 patent applications were filed with the USPTO in 2009, as compared to 485,312 in 2008. European patent application filings declined for the first time in 20 years. The European Patent Office received about 135,000 applications, 8% less than 146,600 in 2008. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office received 40,796 patent applications as compared to 41,321 in 2008.
In comparison to Western countries, East Asian countries showed mixed trends in domestic patent filing rates. The Korean Intellectual Property Office recorded an 8.1% decrease in the number of Korean patent applications, from 170,632 in 2008 to 156,885 in 2009, while China’s State Intellectual Property Office showed an increase of about 8% in filing of patent applications (for inventions) in 2009. The Indian Patent Office continued to experience the positive growth trend in patent application filings.
The Indian statistics show an increase of about 5% in patent filing trend as compared to the previous year. The Annual Report 2008-2009 published by office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks states that “although this year the world has witnessed meltdown effect in the economy, the filing rate of intellectual property applications has seen [an] upward trend.” In 2009, the number of patent applications filed with the Indian Patent office was 36,812 as compared to 35,218 in 2008. Nevertheless, of these, only 16.73% were filed by the Indian applicants with the remaining 83.27% filed by foreign applicants. This is the opposite of the Chinese ratio, where 73% applications were filed by domestic applicants and 27% were from abroad.
On one hand, the small percent of Indian patent applications by domestic applicants does not give the correct picture of the innovation capacity of the country. On the other hand, the increasing patent filing rate by overseas applicants signify the interest in India as a business destination. Such a positive trend may also be the result of the revised patent laws in India.
As per the patent statistics in annual report of 2009, only 4,453 patent applications were filed through the convention route, whereas 25,706 patent applications were filed as national phase applications through the PCT route, which is 7.6% higher than the previous year. This establishes the preference in India of the PCT route over the Paris Convention route.
The annual report also gives the international filing statistics for India, which again denotes the increased filing rate. Though the number of international patent applications filed by Indian applicants is not huge, the 887 PCT applications filed in 2009, as compared to 707 in 2008, shows an increase of about 25.5%. It is also interesting to note, as per the annual report, that 1,847 foreign filing permissions were sought in 2009. This number is more than double the number of PCT applications filed by Indian applicants. This possibly may mean there is increased overseas collaboration or that Indian inventors are part of multinational research teams or a foreign principal’s domestic presence in India, where the patent application would be filed in other jurisdictions first. Another possibility may be that such inventions may not be patentable in India as per the Indian Patents Act. Whatever may be the reason this may be just the start of the realization of the capability of Indian inventors for global innovation and of their international reach.
The patent grant rate has also seen an upward trend. In 2009, 16,061 patents were granted against 15,316 in 2008. Conversely, the number of applications examined in 2009 was 12% less than in 2008. In 2009, 10,296 applications were examined, against 11,751 in 2008. Despite fewer examinations, the increased grant as per the annual report is attributed to modernization. It appears that modernization at the patent office has made it possible to expedite and clear the earlier backlog of issuance of letters patents, resulting in a greater grant rate.
The annual report shows positive statistics with regard to the patenting trend in India, which does not seem to have been as affected by the recession which has hit most other patent offices around the world.
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