Statistics on the international industrial property applications filed with WIPO in 2020

4 march 2021

Interesting

In 2020, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of international patent applications filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) continued to grow.

In the year under review, the number of international patent applications filed under the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) increased by 4% and totalled 275,900 applications, reaching a record high in history, despite a projected 3.5% decline in global GDP. The number of international patent applications filed by Belarusian applicants under the PCT procedure in 2020 was 14, which is 22.2% lower than in 2019.

The usage of the international trademark system has declined slightly. This trend was expected given that trademarks are often indicative of new products and services, and this area saw the slowdown caused by the pandemic. The number of international trademark applications filed under the WIPO Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks decreased by 0.6% in 2020 and amounted to 63,800. This trend has become typical for the Republic of Belarus as well. The number of international applications seeking protection in the Republic of Belarus in 2020 decreased by 8.4% compared to 2019. It should be noted that the activity of Belarusian applicants wishing to use the international registration procedure increased by 9% in 2020, which amounted to 233 international applications.

The economic downturn following the pandemic has negatively impacted the demand for industrial design protection under the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs. In 2020, the demand for this service fell by 15%, and in quantitative terms amounted to 18,580 samples.

At the same time, over the past decade, demand for WIPO global IP services, especially PCT services, has exceeded global GDP growth.

Based on the WIPO materials.