China Could Overtake U.S. In Patent Filings

China is on pace to overtake the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and become the world’s largest patent-filing jurisdiction by 2012 if growth in both countries continues at current rates. According to Evalueserve, a global market research firm, China has seen a 20% annual increase in patent application filings over the past 15 years. The number of patent applications filed already ranks China third in the world behind the U.S. and Japan. This “clearly suggests that filing in China has become an intrinsic part of most multinational companies’ IP strategies,” the study notes. Although China is still struggling with the image of being a safe haven for IP violators, Evalueserve says the Asian giant has taken a variety of steps to enhance its patent system, including creating an online, searchable patent database and a hierarchy of courts for handling IP disputes. As a result, more than 4 million patent applications were filed in China from 1985 to 2007.