The World Intellectual Property Organization (the "WIPO") has released its annual statistics on global IP filings for 2019. Overall, global trademark filings increased by 5.9%, industrial design filings increased by 1.3% and patent filings decreased by 3%. However, Canada, the United States, the Republic of Korea, the European Patent Office and India all had increased numbers of patent applications filed in 2019. The number of patents in force worldwide grew to about 15 million (an increase of 7%).
Since the reported statistics are from 2019, they predate the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Daren Tang, WIPO Director General, "[b]ecause IP is so connected to technology, innovation and digitalization, IP will become even more important to a greater number of countries in the post-COVID world".
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