China 5th, India in top 15 UN patent filings

Geneva: China seems to be growing stronger in scientific research, while its neighbor India is lagging behind, according to a new data issued by the Geneva based World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo), a United Nation agency to promote the protection of intellectual property. The data for 2009 reveals that Indian firms and scientists filed one-tenth of patent applications filed by their Chinese counterparts during the same period, reports Business Standard.

For example, China filed 7,946 patent applications last year, compared to 761 by India, followed by Singapore (594), Brazil (480), and South Africa (389), among others. In fact, India's performance in patent filings dropped sharply from 1,070 in 2008, which indicates that there is no sustained push to accelerate research and development activities.

In the top 15 countries of origin of patent applications last year, China was ranked fifth after the United States (45,790), Japan (29,827), Germany (16,736) and South Korea (8,006). Filing of patent applications under Wipo's Patent Cooperation Treaty enables companies to secure patent protection in various countries.

It is a measure for knowledge-based economy and a barometer to judge the spread of innovation-based companies in each country. Though international patent filings dropped by 4.5 percent last year with total applications of about 155,900, compared to the previous year, the decline in patent applications is not as sharp as originally anticipated, says WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry.

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