Patents by Country / Number of Patents Per Country 2022

Based on the number of worldwide (PCT) patent applications submitted annually, China ranks first, followed by the United States and Japan.

Based on data from 2021, the top 10 nations account for almost 88% of all yearly applications.

What is a Patent?

Patents are exclusive privileges given to new inventions that are both non-obvious and helpful, such as those that provide a novel method of doing things or a specifically technological answer to a problem.

As a kind of intellectual property, patents provide the holder the right to prevent others from commercially exploiting or making use of an invention for a certain amount of time. In a patent application, the technical details of the invention are made public in return for the legal right.

In certain regions, such as the United States, patents refer to a broader category of intellectual property rights. Utility models also go by the labels petty patents and innovation patents in the United States, while industrial design rights are also known as design patents.

Variations on Patents by Country

National laws and other international agreements determine how patents are granted, who may apply for them, and the scope of the resulting exclusive rights in each country.

However, one or more claims in a patent application specify the extent of the patent’s protection. In most jurisdictions, patent rights are protected by private law, meaning that the patent holder has to file a lawsuit against the infringer.

Patents are accessible in WTO TRIPS member nations, with the requirement that the minimum length of protection should not be shorter than twenty years.

However, there continue to be differences in what may be patented from one country to the next. By the end of 2021, these are the top 10 nations in total international patent applications.

Country and Approximate Number of Patent Applications

• China – 695,400
• United States – 595,700
• Japan – 502,600
• South Korea – 206,780
• Germany – 173,220
• France – 72,800
• United Kingdom – 58,410
• Switzerland – 53,860
• Sweden – 44,530
• Netherlands – 41,270

Patents in China

In the last five years, China has approved nearly 2.53 million patents, an increase of 13.5 percent each year. About 695,400 patents will be approved in the nation in 2021.

In China, the number of persons who possess innovation patents has increased to 7.5 per 10,000, which is about twice as many as at the end of 2017.

In its IPR growth strategy for the next 15 years (2021-2035), China has established a concrete goal of having sectors that rely heavily on patents and innovation contribute 13% to GDP by 2025.

Patents in the United States

The total number of patent applications filed with the USPTO decreased somewhat from the previous fiscal year, totaling roughly 595,700 in the 2021 fiscal year.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is where inventors go to have their creations evaluated for patentability before they may file for patent protection in the United States. The patent holder has the legal right to prevent anyone from producing, using, or selling the patented innovation.

Also See: NTSC Countries 2022

Patents in Japan

The number of patent applications filed in Japan fell to third place globally, down 1.2% from the previous year.

Since healthcare and digital technologies were the primary drivers of growth in patent applications at the EPO in 2021, it has been hypothesized that the decrease in potent Japanese applications is at least partly attributable to the fact that Japanese companies tend to file patents in more mature industries.