PCT Yearly Review 2020 –Executive Summary
The International Patent System

This executive brief identifies key trends
in the use of the WIPO-administered
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). For fuller
statistics, see the PCT Yearly Review 2020 –available in English at: www.wipo.int/ipstats

Key numbers for 2019647,700(+2.6%)
PCT national phase entries

265,800(+5.2%)
PCT applications filed

127 (unchanged)

Countries in which PCT applications were filed

56.9%(–0.5 percentage points)
Share of PCT national phase entries in worldwide non-resident filings

18.7% (+1.6 percentage points)

Share of women among PCT inventors

Note: The latest available year for PCT national phase entry data is 2018.

1

Statistics on the international
phase – PCT applications
Record number of PCT applications filed
An estimated 265,800 international patent applications (PCT applications) werefiled under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2019. This represents a
5.2% increase on 2018 and a tenth consecutive year of growth (figure 1). Since
the PCT System became operational in 1978, almost 4 million PCT applications
have been filed. Overall, PCT filings have grown every year, except for 2009,
when the global financial crisis led to an economic downturn.

The total number of PCT applications grew by 5.2% in 2019.
Figure 1 – Trend in filings of PCT applications, 2009-2019

PCT applications andannual growth rates

250,000

200,000

164,355+5.8%

150,000

182,442+11.0%

195,345+7.1%

205,305+5.1%

214,329+4.4%

217,230
+1.4%

2014

2015

232,907+7.2%

243,528+4.6%

252,775+3.8%

265,800+5.2%

100,000
2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2016

2017

2018

2019

International filing year

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

Applicants from 127 different countries
filed PCT applications
In 2019, 153 states were members of the PCT and applicants from 127 countries across the six geographical regions of the world filed PCT applications at
87 receiving offices (ROs). Despite this broad geographical spread, most filing
activity is concentrated in a small number of economies.
Combined, the top 10 ROs accounted for nearly 94% of applications received in
2019. With 60,993 filings, the China National Intellectual Property Administration(CNIPA) received the highest number of PCT applications. It was followed by the2United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office(JPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office(KIPO) and the International Bureau (IB) of WIPO.

For the first time, applicants from China
became the biggest users of the PCT System
With 58,990 PCT applications, applicants residing in China filed the most applications in 2019. This was the first year since the PCT System began operating
in 1978 that applicants from the United States of America (U.S.) moved down
to the second place, with 57,840 PCT applications filed. They were followed
by Japan, Germany and the Republic of Korea (figure 2). Combined, these
top five countries accounted for 78.2% of all PCT applications filed in 2019.
Driven mainly by a rapid increase in filings by applicants from China, Japan,
the Republic of Korea and the U.S., the combined share of the top five usersof the PCT System has increased every year for the last decade.
The top 20 origins included 17 high-income countries – mostly European – andthree middle-income countries, namely, China, India and Turkey. Outside the top
20 origins, other large middle-income economies with notable numbers of PCT
applications were Brazil, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federationand South Africa, whose filings ranged between 200 and 1,300. Applicantsfrom low-income countries filed a total of 10 PCT applications in 2019. Within
this category, applicants from the Syrian Arab Republic and Uganda together
accounted for half of this total.

Applicants residing in China, Japan and the U.S. filed by far the most
PCT applications.
Figure 2 – PCT applications for the top 10 origins, 201952,660+5.9%

19,353–2.0%

19,085+12.8%
4,610
+0.7%

s
nd

en

et
he

rla

ed
Sw

nd
la
itz
er
Sw

lic

4,011
–3.0%

R

ep

ub

4,185
+0.4%

N

5,786
+2.7%

.K
.

e

of

Fr
a

Ko
r

nc

ea

y
m
an
G
er

n
pa
Ja

.S
.
U

C

hi

na

7,934
+0.2%

U

57,840+2.8%

PCT applications andannual growth rates

58,990+10.6%

OriginSource: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

3

The majority of PCT filings originatedfrom Asia in 2019
Countries located in Asia accounted for 52.4% of all PCT applications in 2019(figure 3). Applicants in Europe and North America each had a similar proportionof filings at 23.2% and 22.8% respectively. The combined share for Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Oceania amounted to 1.6% of total PCT
filings. Asia’s share has increased every year since 1993, growing from 32% in2008 to 52.4% in 2019, primarily due to increases in filings from China, Japanand the Republic of Korea during the period.

Asia accounted for the majority of PCT applications filed.
Figure 3 – Distribution of PCT applications by region, 2019

52.4%
Asia
23.2%
Europe22.8%
North America
0.8%
Oceania
0.6%
LAC
0.2%
Africa0.0%
Unknown

Note: LAC is the Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

4

The business sector accounted forabout 86% of all PCT applications
In 2019, the IB published 246,636 PCT applications, representing a 3.9%
rise in published applications on 2018. The business sector accounted for
86.4% of all published PCT applications, followed by individuals (6.2%), theuniversity sector (5.6%) and the government and public research organization(PRO) sector (1.9%).
The business sector accounted for the majority of published applications received from each of the top 20 origins in the high-income group. This sector’sshare was especially high for Sweden (97.6%) and Japan (96.1%). Of the top
20 origins from the middle-income category, the business sector accounted
for a majority of the published applications from six countries, while individual applicants filed the most in 11 countries. For applications originatingfrom Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Ukraine, individual applicants
accounted for over 94% of published applications.

Huawei remained the top PCTapplicant in 2019
In 2019, Huawei Technologies of China was the top PCT applicant in the business sector, the fifth time since 2014 (figure 4). However, with 4,411 published
PCT applications, it saw its number of published applications fall by almost one
thousand compared to 2018. With 2,661 published PCT applications, Mitsubishi
Electric Corporation of Japan remained second, again, despite a decreasing
number of published applications. These two companies were followed by
Samsung Electronics Corporation of the Republic of Korea and Qualcomm
Incorporated of the U.S.
Companies active in digital communication headed the list of top 50 PCT filers in
2019. Of the top 10 applicants, six filed mainly in digital communication, namely, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Oppo Mobile, LG Electronics, Qualcomm
Incorporated and Samsung Electronics.

5

Huawei Technologies remained the top PCT applicant in 2019.
Figure 4 – Top 10 PCT applicants, 2019

1,687
+10.6%

ni
cs

ch

1,646
–3.0%

LG

el
ec

tro

Bo
s

te
c

on

h.

1,691
+403.3%

An

hn
te
c

1,698
+3.2%

ss

ol
og

y

Te
l.
M
ob

ile

m
m
lc
o

O
PP
O

Q
ua

1,864
+2.8%

Pi
ng

1,927
+84.9%

Er
ic

2,127
–11.5%

BOE

2,334+16.9%

ng

i
bi
sh
M
its
u

H

ua

w

ei

2,661
–5.4%

Sa
m
su

Published PCT applications
and annual growth rates

4,411–18.4%

ApplicantSource: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

Of the top five universities, three are in
China and two in the U.S.
With 470 published PCT applications, the University of California remained
the biggest user of the PCT System among educational institutions in 2019.
Tsinghua University moved up to second spot by doubling its number of published applications. It was followed by Shenzhen University, MIT and the South
China University of Technology. Within the top 50 universities, 20 were locatedin the U.S. and 14 in China.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft remained the top PCTapplicant in the government and PRO sector
With 331 published applications, the German-based Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung headed the list of top 30 government and PRO applicants in 2019. It was followed by the China Academy of
Telecommunications Technology, the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux
Énergies Alternatives of France, the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology
of China and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore.

6

Computer technology is backas the main technology field in
PCT applications
Computer technology (21,449) regained top position in 2019, having competedwith digital communications as the most frequently featured technology field in
published PCT applications since 2015. It was followed by digital communication(19,090), electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (17,223), medical technology(16,954) and measurement (11,471). These top five fields of technology, combined,accounted for slightly over one third of all PCT applications published in 2019.

The share of women listed as inventors grewslightly faster in 2019 than the year before but
remained low
In 2019, women accounted for 18.7% of all inventors listed in PCT applications
and men the remaining 81.3%. This is 4.1 percentage points higher than it was in2014 (14.6%). Since 2005, this share has continuously increased. Moreover, theshare of women inventors has grown in each of the world’s geographical regions
over the past five years. The LAC region (22.4%) had the highest share of womenamong PCT inventors, followed by Asia (22.2%), Oceania (19.3%), North America(16.5%), Europe (13.7%) and Africa (11.7%).
The gender gap among PCT inventors varies considerably across countries.
From among the top 20 origins, Australia, China and the Republic of Korea had
the highest shares of inventors who were women in 2019. These three were theonly origins among the top 20 to have about one-fifth or more of all their inventors being women.
Those technology fields related to the life sciences had comparatively high proportions of women among inventors listed in PCT applications (figure 5). Overall,
women represented between 27% and 31% of inventors in the fields of analysisof biological materials, biotechnology, food chemistry, organic fine chemistry
and pharmaceuticals.

7

Women inventors represented a relatively high proportion of inventors
in biotechnology, food chemistry and pharmaceuticals.

Field of technology

Figure 5 – Share of women among listed inventors in PCT applications by
field of technology, 2019
Biotechnology
Pharmaceuticals
Food chemistry
Organic fine chemistry
Analysis of biological materials
Digital communication
Basic materials chemistry
Macromolecular chemistry, polymers
Other consumer goods
Micro-structural and nano-technology
IT methods for management
Computer technology
Telecommunications
Semiconductors
Materials, metallurgy
Environmental technology
Chemical engineering
Textile and paper machines
Audio-visual technology
Medical technology
Furniture, games
Optics
Surface technology, coating
Thermal processes and apparatus
Other special machines
Measurement
Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
Control
Basic communication processes
Civil engineering
Handling
Machine tools
Transport
Engines, pumps, turbines
Mechanical elements

9.5
9.1

19.5
18.9
18.6
18.3
17.8
17.4
17.1
17.0
16.9
16.8
16.7
16.7
16.4
16.2
15.6
15.5
14.8
14.4
14.2
14.0
13.3
13.1
12.3
12.0
11.4

Share of applications with women inventors (%)

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

8

22.1
22.1
21.8

27.6
27.1

31.0
30.4
30.1

Statistics on PCT national
phase entries
The number of PCT national phase entries grewby 2.6% in 2018
An estimated 647,700 PCT national phase entries (NPEs) were initiated worldwide in 2018 – the latest year for which NPE data are available. This represents
an increase of 2.6% on the previous year (figure 6). Overall, growth in NPEs
has gradually slowed over the past 15 years and actually fell, first in 2009
and again in 2016.
NPEs initiated by non-resident applicants represented about 83% of total
NPEs in 2018. This share has tended to decrease slightly in recent years,
mainly due to a strong growth in resident NPEs initiated at the JPO and at
the USPTO. In 2018, resident NPEs accounted for 39.2% and 22.4% of total
NPEs at these respective offices.

In 2018, the number of PCT national phase entries increased by 2.6%.
Figure 6 – Trend in PCT national phase entries, 2008-2018

PCT national phase entries
and annual growth rates

800,000

600,000

450,100–4.3%

400,000

486,300+8.0%

509,900+4.9%

542,900+6.5%

565,900+4.2%

595,400+5.2%

624,100+4.8%

616,300
–1.2%

2015

2016

631,300+2.4%

647,700+2.6%

200,000
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2017

2018

Year

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

9

Applicants based in the U.S. initiated28.2% of PCT NPEs worldwide
In 2018, applicants residing in the U.S. initiated 182,573 NPEs. The U.S. wasfollowed by applicants from Japan, Germany, China and the Republic of Korea(figure 7). The U.S. and Japan combined accounted for 48.6% of all NPEs initiated in 2018, while the top five together accounted for 67.8% of total NPEs.
Beside this high concentration of NPEs among just a few origins, applicantsfrom over 130 countries also initiated NPEs in 2018.
Of the 155,322 NPEs received at the USPTO, applicants residing in the U.S.
and in Japan were each responsible for approximately one-fifth. U.S.-based
applicants accounted for the highest shares of NPEs at 13 of the top 20 offices,while applicants residing in Japan accounted for the highest shares at the sevenother offices. More specifically, U.S.-based applicants accounted for over 45%
of all NPEs initiated at the offices of Canada and Mexico, while Japan-based
applicants initiated over 47% of all NPEs at the offices of Germany and Thailand.

Applications originating from Japan and the U.S. accounted for 48.6%of all NPEs.
Figure 7 – PCT national phase entries for the top 10 origins, 2018

PCT national phase entries
and annual growth rates

182,573–0.8%

132,520+2.6%

10

22,228
+7.5%

N

ed
en

13,693+11.5%

Sw

et
he
r

la

nd
s

17,842
–3.1%

la
nd
er
itz
Sw

OriginSource: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

23,846
+6.7%

.K
.

nc
e

R

ep
ub
l

ic

of

28,149
–4.9%

Fr
a

Ko
re
a

hi
na

28,730+10.4%

U

35,991
+1.9%

C

an
y
G
er
m

pa
n
Ja

U
.S
.

59,351+2.9%

The PCT System accounted for 56.9%
of all non-resident filings in 2018
An estimated 539,500 non-resident NPEs were initiated worldwide in 2018 via
the PCT route. By comparison, about 408,400 patent applications were filed
directly at offices by non-resident applicants (i.e. the Paris route). This meansthat 56.9% of non-resident applications were filed via the PCT route in 2018, a
0.5 percentage point lower than in 2017 (57.4%) but considerably higher thantheir share in 2004 (figure 8). Long-term data show that the number of applications filed via both routes has trended upward, although the PCT route hasgrown at the fastest pace of the two, with an average annual growth rate of 4.7%
between 2004 and 2018, as compared to 1.8% for the Paris route.
Of the top 20 offices in terms of non-resident patent applications, 17 received amajority of their non-resident filings via the PCT route, with the offices of Brazil,
Israel and South Africa having shares above 88%, and those of Germany, theU.K. and the U.S. having shares below 40%.
When looking at the top 20 origins filing most applications overseas, applicantsfrom Australia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.S. relied on the
PCT route for over two-thirds of their filings abroad. Applicants from Canada,
India and the Republic of Korea had far lower shares of filings abroad using
the PCT route.

In 2018, PCT national phase entries accounted for 56.9% of total nonresident filings.
Figure 8 – Trend in non-resident applications by filing route, 2008-2018

Non-resident applications

PCT NPE SHARE (%)
53.0

54.2

54.6

54.8

55.2

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

55.6

57.0

57.6

56.4

57.4

56.9

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000

Year
PARIS ROUTEPCT NATIONAL PHASE ENTRIES

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

11

Statistics on the performance of
the PCT System
The International Bureau

About 45% of PCT applications were
published in English in 2019
The vast majority of PCT applications are published in the language in which
they were filed. In 2019, 44.7% of all PCT applications were published in English,
followed by Japanese and Chinese (figure 9). The seven remaining languagesof publication, combined, accounted for 16.6% of the total. Whereas the combined share of the top three languages has remained relatively stable between
2013 and 2019, their respective contributions have changed drastically. Whilethe use of Japanese has not altered much during this period, back in 2013, amajority of applications were published in English and Chinese accounted fora low share in comparison.

Nearly 45% of PCT applications were published in English.
Figure 9 – Distribution of PCT applications by language and year of
publication, 201944.7%
English19.7%
Japanese
19.0%
Chinese
7.0%
German5.9%
Korean2.4%
French
0.6%
Spanish0.5%
Russian
0.2%
Portuguese
0.0%
ArabicSource: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

12

Nearly 13% of all PCT applications
were filed through the ePCT-filing
portal in 2019
In 2019, 64 ROs accepted PCT filings through the ePCT-filing portal and applicants filed 34,335 PCT applications this way. This represents an increase of
42.6% on the previous year and corresponds to 12.9% of all PCT applications
filed in 2019. Applicants from the U.S. (6,940) filed by far the most applications
via the ePCT portal, followed by those from India (1,758) and Italy (1,688), representing respectively, 12%, 85.6% and 49.8% of the total filings received fromapplicants residing in these three countries.

The IB examined almost 80% of all
PCT applications within one weekof receipt
In 2019, the IB performed a formalities examination of 79.3% of PCT applications within one week of receipt of the application and had processed 98.2%
within a month.
Slightly more than 77% of publications occurred during the week following the
expiration of the 18-month period from the priority date, and 99.5% of publications
occurred within two weeks of that period. When an international search report(ISR) is unavailable at the time of publication, an application is republished together with its ISR once it is available. The proportion of applications republishedwithin two months of receipt of the ISR was 89.5%. Almost all republications
occurred within three months of receipt of the ISR at the IB.

The receiving offices

Seventeen of the top 20 offices received more than
90% of applications electronically in 2019
Of the top 20 ROs, China, Israel, Japan, Singapore and the U.S. received morethan 99% of PCT applications electronically in 2019. The share of electronic filings exceeded 82% at all the top 20 offices, except for the office of the RussianFederation, which received 77.6% of its PCT applications on paper.

13

Australia and India transmitted all their PCT
applications to the IB within four weeks
In 2019, on average, ROs transmitted their PCT applications to the IB within 2.7
weeks of the international filing date. Australia and India transmitted all theirapplications to the IB within four weeks of the filing date. Sixteen of the top 20
offices had a transmittal rate within this timeframe of above 80%.

International searching authorities

The EPO issued slightly under
one third of all ISRs in 2019
In 2019, 251,300 ISRs were issued by the 23 existing International Searching
Authorities (ISAs). The EPO issued almost 80,800 ISRs and was followed by the
CNIPA and the JPO (figure 10). Together, these three ISAs accounted for nearly
three-quarters of all ISRs issued. Of the top 10 ISAs, the offices of Canada andthe Republic of Korea experienced double-digit growth. From among all 23
ISAs, Turkey and Ukraine issued far more ISRs than they had in 2018 and thePhilippines issued its first ISRs.
Of all ISRs required to be transmitted to the IB within three months from the dateof receipt of the application, nearly 87% were successfully transmitted within
this timeframe in 2019. At all ISAs, except for Egypt, almost three-quarters of
ISRs that should have been transmitted to the IB within three months from thedate of receipt of the search copy met this deadline. As for those required to betransmitted within 9 months from the priority date, almost 81% were transmitted
within this timeframe. All ISAs transmitted at least 62% of such ISRs within 9months, except for the Nordic Patent Institute.

14

The European Patent Office issued nearly 81,000 international
search reports.
Figure 10 – International search reports issued by the top 10 International
Searching Authorities, 2019

51,656+7.8%

27,158+12.5%

21,694
+0.8%

ae

l

1,437
+9.0%

Is
r

ia

1,668
+5.0%

In
d

2,257
–5.8%

lia

a
ad
an
C

at
io

2,423
+12.7%

R

R

us

si

ep

an

ub

lic

Fe
d

of

er

U

Ko
r

n

.S
.

ea

n
pa
Ja

na
hi
C

EP
O

3,964
+1.3%

tra

52,916+1.9%

Aus

Search reports andannual growth rates

80,7490%International Searching Authority

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, March 2020.

15

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Photo: Getty Images / koto_feja
WIPO Reference No. 901/20/ExSum/E