GENEVA: Global patent filings shrugged off weaker economic conditions to set a new record in 2011 with annualised growth of 10.7 percent, the World Intellectual Property Organization said Monday.
Patent applications from China topped the list, growing by 33.4 percent, while those from Japan increased by 21 percent, followed by Canada at 8.0 percent.
"The recovery in international patent filings that we saw in 2010 gained strength in 2011," said WIPO director general Francis Gurry who noted that the rise was the biggest since 2005.
Gurry said this showed the strength of the Patent Cooperation Treaty which Geneva-based WIPO administers, calling the treaty an increasingly "important feature of economic strategy."
ZTE Corporation of China with 2,826 applications overtook Panasonic of Japan (2,463) as the top patent applicant in 2011, with China's Huawei Technologies (1,831) third. Sharp of Japan (1,755) was in fourth place followed by Robert Bosch Corporation (1,518) of Germany.
WIPO said in a statement that the two millionth patent application was filed in 2011 by US-based techonlogy company Qaulcomm.
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