Executive Summary

The IP5 Statistics Report (IP5 SR) is an annual compilation of patent statistics for the five largest intellectual property (IP) offices – the IP5 Offices – namely the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Worldwide patenting activity until 2022:

- At the end of 2022, 17.2 million patents were in force in the world (+4.8 percent).

91 percent of these patents were in force in one of the IP5 Offices’ jurisdictions.

- In 2022, 3.5 million patent applications were filed worldwide, either as direct

national, direct regional or international phase Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

applications, of which 93 percent originated from the IP5 regions (IP5 Blocs).

- In 2022, 77 percent of the worldwide patent applications were filed as direct

national applications. The proportion of applications filed via the PCT remained

stable.

IP5 Offices patenting activities in 2023:

- In 2023, 3.0 million patent applications were filed at the IP5 Offices (+2.9 percent).

- Together the IP5 Offices granted more than 1.7 million patents in 2023 (+9.4

percent).

- In 2023, the main developments at the IP5 Offices were:

- Annual IP5 high-level events: On June 15, 2023, the USPTO hosted the meeting of the IP5 Heads of Office in Honolulu, Hawaii. The IP5 Heads reaffirmed their commitment to addressing climate change through an accessible and inclusive IP system and encouraged discussions on IP5 office led initiatives and programs on climate-related innovations. During their meeting, the Heads of Office also endorsed the progress of the ongoing IP5 working group projects, including the implementation of the IP5 New Emerging Technologies/Artificial Intelligence (NET/AI) roadmap, efforts to harmonize drawing requirements, and the exploration of creating a global assignment system. The Offices acknowledged the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and explored ways to collaborate to provide additional value to users and incorporate sustainability into the IP5 framework.

They also amended the 2017 IP5 Vision Statement to broaden the scope of the IP5's work, particularly in relation to efforts to build a sustainable future and enhance and streamline the IP system. The new 2023 IP5 Vision Statement was adopted and published on the IP5 website on June 20, 2023. As a result of discussions on promoting sustainability and providing helpful resources and incentives to users, the IP5 Offices affirmed their commitment to exploring collaboration opportunities on sustainable innovations to bring these innovations to impact.

- At the IP5 Offices in 2023, the applications increased by 4 percent at the CNIPA

and the JPO, by 3 percent at the EPO, by 2 percent at the KIPO and by less than 1 percent at the USPTO. The data showed annual growth of 3 percent for overall applications at the IP5 Offices.

- EPO: 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the European Patent Convention (EPC). The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) were launched in June. The EPO introduced the Observatory on Patents and Technology, the Modular IP Education Framework (MIPEF) designed to be integrated into university curricula and launched a new EPO website. The EPO has made significant strides in enhancing environmental sustainability. Demand for

patents grew further by 2.9 percent to 199,275 European patent applications.

By the end of 2023, 99.5 percent of patent grant actions were successfully digitalised.

- JPO: 

The JPO has been aiming to achieve the “world”s fastest and utmost quality patent examinations”, and implementing various measures focused on “maintaining speed”, “granting high quality rights.” In 2023, the JPO received 300,133 patent applications, and the total pendency and the first action pendency were 14.0 and 9.5 months on average, respectively. Furthermore, in 2023, first action pendency from request for accelerated examination was 2.2 months on average.

- KIPO: 

The annual average first office action pendency period was 16.1 months for patents and utility models. KIPO received a preliminary total of 556,600 applications filing for patents, utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks in 2023. The number of PCT applications filed to KIPO increased by 1.1 percent from 21,916 in 2022 to 22,166 in 2023. The Korean language is also the 4th most commonly used language as an official PCT publication language.

- CNIPA: 

In 2023, the CNIPA was adjusted into an institution directly under the

State Council, and an inter-ministerial joint conference system was established

to improve China's IP competitiveness. Major policies such as the Special Action Plan for Patent Transformation and Utilisation (2023-2025) were implemented. CNIPA further improved the quality of IP examination and made efforts to provide more convenient and efficient services, the average pendency for the examination of invention patents was reduced to 16 months.

- USPTO: 

In 2023, the USPTO released its 2022-2026 strategic plan with the ultimate goal to propel innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity for the benefit of people around the world. The USPTO announced a collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a special category of its Patents for Humanity Program to incentivize greater innovation in climate and green technology areas. In September of 2023, the USPTO issued the 1 millionth design patent.