IP News Flash WIPO Ranks Matsushita Electric as No. 1 in the Number of PCT Applications Filed in 2007

Japanese electronics manufacturer Matsushita, best known in the U.S. for 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 59 more PCT patent applications than Phillips. Siemens of Germany remains in third place with 1,644 applications, whereas Huawei Technologies of China has jumped up 9 places to claim fourth place. Huawei is now ahead of Bosch (1,146), Toyota (997),Qualcomm (974), Microsoft (845), Motorola (824) and Nokia (822).  

The United States once again ranked first with 52,280 applications, ahead of Japan (27,731), and Germany (18,134). The most notable growth came from South Korea (7,061) who, with an increase of 18.8% over the previous year, overtook France to come in fourth.   

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

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