China extends lead over U.S. in global patents filings, Huawei global top filer for 4 consecutive year, U.N. says

[xizhimen]

China extends lead over U.S. in global patents filings, Huawei global top filer for 4 consecutive year, U.N. says
By Emma Farge
MARCH 2, 20215:07 PM

GENEVA (Reuters) - China was the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world in 2020 for the second consecutive year and extended its lead over No. 2 filer the United States, the U.N. patent agency said on Tuesday.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which oversees a system for countries to share recognition of patents, said China filed 68,720 applications last year while the United States filed 59,230.

The rate of increase was higher for China with a 16.1% year-on-year increase versus 3% for the United States, it added. China first knocked the United States from the top spot in 2019.

Daren Tang, WIPO director-general, said the rise in Chinese filings was part of a longer-term trend for higher applications from Asia more broadly, with South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia all submitting more applications last year.

“It’s not as if filings from the traditional parts of the world like the U.S. or Europe have decreased, it’s just that the rate, the acceleration, has become a lot stronger in Asia,” he told journalists.

The region accounted for more than half of all filings via WIPO’s system known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty versus just over a third ten years ago.

Unlike after the 2008 financial crisis when filings fell sharply, overall filings via WIPO’s system were up 4% overall in 2020 to a new record despite the COVID-19-induced slowdown, it said.

“The trend is that innovation remains resilient and the sense is that the world needs more innovation ... during a crisis,” said Tang.

The biggest single filer under this system last year was China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for the fourth consecutive year and second was South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, WIPO said.

Singapore’s Tang began his term in October and received strong support from Western countries including the United States in a highly politicised race against a Chinese candidate for the top job last year.

China extends lead over U.S. in global patents filings, U.N. says

China was the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world in 2020 for the second consecutive year and extended its lead over No. 2 filer the United States, the U.N. patent agency said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

 

[Nilgiri]

The progress by China here is commendable, but it requires some context (qualitatively) too.

There's the actual quality/relevance of the patents....an altogether different matter past raw numbers.

Not to mention how many actually get granted in the end (compared to filed).

https://www.trademap.org/

IP export earnings vs import expenses (2019):

US = 117 billion USD , 42 billion USD
JPN = 47 billion USD , 26 billion USD
CN = 6.6 billion USD , 34 billion USD

One can do a ROI per patent file/grant for example to get an actual qualitative analysis (and get an idea of number of patents that are mostly inflation).

China is not on an early compounding growth spurt here either, having witnessed a big jump from 2016 to 2017 (1.2 to 4.8 billion)...but having relatively plateaued since (4.8, 5.6 and now 6.6 billion).

BTW, If one wants to know how out of tune the Chinese patent law (internal) system is with the world average, one only need to look at the abroad/resident patent grant ratio...its just about 10%.

Statistical Country Profiles

www.wipo.int

Comparing that with other countries shows what seems to be going on at large.

Similar happens with science paper inflation too (if you actually read say a 100 of them at the suitable highest tiers and figure out how many are actually voicing something new rather than quoting each other with a little iteration or even none - a worldwide phenomenon, but the intensity of it varies noticeably by source country).

This (quality disparity) is all part of larger reason that China indulges in massive scale of IP theft, that well-developed countries are now catching onto increasingly

This is also a larger illustration of whenever there is excessive cherrypicking + pushing of 1st glance headline stuff, it is useful counter (depending on time and interest) to dig deeper to 2nd and 3rd layer...you will likely find many residuals of dissonance.

Just like navy = biggest by cherry-picking "tonnage" inflation compared to something of more power-note like total VLS cells and reloads available.

It is always imperative to dig deeper whenever possible (macro numbers too as several independent economists have done) especially with one party states that have all kind of dubious history on the subject matter if it interests you or you are confronted by too much din about it (loudest vessels tend to be hollow).

There is a certain correlated inflation approach found in this forum too, somewhat inevitable I suppose.

But this subject definitely caught my eye for a little appropriate fleshing out.

@anmdt @Paro @Zapper @AlphaMike @Saithan @VCheng @Sinan @Jackdaws

 

[xizhimen]

The progress by China here is commendable, but it requires some context (qualitatively) too.

There's the actual quality/relevance of the patents....an altogether different matter past raw numbers.

Not to mention how many actually get granted in the end (compared to filed).

https://www.trademap.org/

IP export earnings vs import expenses (2019):

US = 117 billion USD , 42 billion USD
JPN = 47 billion USD , 26 billion USD
CN = 6.6 billion USD , 34 billion USD

One can do a ROI per patent file/grant for example to get an actual qualitative analysis (and get an idea of number of patents that are mostly inflation).

China is not on an early compounding growth spurt here either, having witnessed a big jump from 2016 to 2017 (1.2 to 4.8 billion)...but having relatively plateaued since (4.8, 5.6 and now 6.6 billion).

BTW, If one wants to know how out of tune the Chinese patent law (internal) system is with the world average, one only need to look at the abroad/resident patent grant ratio...its just about 10%.

Statistical Country Profiles

www.wipo.int

Comparing that with other countries shows what seems to be going on at large.

Similar happens with science paper inflation too (if you actually read say a 100 of them at the suitable highest tiers and figure out how many are actually voicing something new rather than quoting each other with a little iteration or even none - a worldwide phenomenon, but the intensity of it varies noticeably by source country).

This (quality disparity) is all part of larger reason that China indulges in massive scale of IP theft, that well-developed countries are now catching onto increasingly

This is also a larger illustration of whenever there is excessive cherrypicking + pushing of 1st glance headline stuff, it is useful counter (depending on time and interest) to dig deeper to 2nd and 3rd layer...you will likely find many residuals of dissonance.

Just like navy = biggest by cherry-picking "tonnage" inflation compared to something of more power-note like total VLS cells and reloads available.

It is always imperative to dig deeper whenever possible (macro numbers too as several independent economists have done) especially with one party states that have all kind of dubious history on the subject matter if it interests you or you are confronted by too much din about it (loudest vessels tend to be hollow).

There is a certain correlated inflation approach found in this forum too, somewhat inevitable I suppose.

But this subject definitely caught my eye for a little appropriate fleshing out.

@anmdt @Paro @Zapper @AlphaMike @Saithan @VCheng @Sinan @Jackdaws

China's next step is to improve quality, nothing can happen just overnight, China's strength is long term planning , China does nothing in a rush and likes to take time to progress step by step, given enough time, China can always amaze their competitors.

 

[Nilgiri]

China's next step is to improve quality, nothing can happen just overnight, China's strength is long term planning , China does nothing in a rush and likes to take time to progress step by step, given enough time, China can always amaze their competitors.

That's true. I did start with saying the progress here is commendable.....just 8 years ago China was about at grant level India is at now (internationally)....and the ROI (per patent grant) seems to be about the same for both.

So the road is long in this sector. But China govt will need to make some tough decisions this decade on how it honours international patent law w.r.t trade-off of not doing that. The current model (of last decade) is not easy endless road, in fact far from it.

 

[VCheng]

But this subject definitely caught my eye for a little appropriate fleshing out.

If I may be succinct, yes China is progressing, but in real terms it still has a long ways to go before it can claim to be catching up. One cannot mandate creativity by decree.