IP News Flash WIPO Announces Matsushita Electric Now Ranks No. 1 In the Number of PCT Filings for 2007

Japanese electronics manufacturer Matsushita, better known in the U.S. with its Panasonic brand, overtook Dutch rival Phillips Electronics to position itself at the top of the biggest Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filer’s list, WIPO announced on February 21, 2008. Matsushita filed a total of 2,100 applications in 2007 picking up more than 59 more PCT patent applications than Phillips. Siemens of Germany remained in third place with 1,644 applications while Huawei Technologies of China jumped up 9 places to claim fourth place. Huawei was followed by Bosch (1,146), Toyota (97),Qualcomm (974), Microsoft (845), Motorola (824) and Nokia (822).  

United States once again ranked first with 52,280 applications, followed by Japan (27,731), Germany (18,134) in second and third places respectively. The most notable growth came from South Korea (7,061) who, with an increase of 18.8% from the previous year, toppled France and came in 4^th.   

For the fourth year running, the fastest growing countries were countries in north-west Asia including Japan and Korea. PCT celebrates 30 years of operations this year and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that 2007 recorded yet another record-breaking year of patents. Overall, the number increase by 4.7% from 2006 with a total of 156,100 applications. To go to the WIPO article, click here.

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