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6.7 Comparison of International Patent Applications
Table 6.7 shows the global patent applications in 2014 based on the report on patent application and ranking published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). These data can be used to evaluate the level of innovation and technology generation in any country. According to the report, the highest numbers of patents applied came from China, whereby this country still maintained its �irst position as compared to 2013 statistics. This was followed by United States, Japan, Republic of Korea and Germany respectively. Malaysia ranked 14th position in 2014 with total patent applications of 7,205 in 2014, and showed an increase of 6,129 as compared to the total patent applications in 2013. In comparison with other neighboring countries in the South East Asia region, Malaysia is ranked third behind Singapore and Indonesia.
In examining patents �ilings by country, based on innovation surveys, several factors accounted for high or low rate of countries patent �ilings. From the Table 6.7, most high income countries enjoy high numbers of patents awarded and granted. The factors that could be attributed to the high patent grants are high funding in R&D, sophisticated innovations, and high population.
7 A patent family is a set of either patent applications or publications taken in multiple countries to protect a single invention by a common inventor(s) and then patented in more than one country.
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Table 6.7 Comparison of Global Patent Applications in 2014
Country Patent Applied Rank
China 825,136 1
United States 571,612 2
Japan 328,436 3
Republic of Korea 204,589 4
Germany 63,167 5
Russia Federation 44,914 6
India 43,031 7
Australia 29,717 8
United Kingdom 22,938 9
France 16,886 10
Singapore 9,722 11
Italy 9,212 12
Indonesia 7,450 13
Malaysia 7,205 14
Philippines 3,285 15
Source: World Intellectual Property Indicator, WIPO, 2014 Note: Ranking of over 192 countries
Figure 6.10 and 6.11 also revealed the current trend of patent applications based on income groups and the regions. Based on the level income group segments, the high-income group has the highest number of patent applications with (60.30%) followed by upper middle-income group with (36.40%), lower middle-income group with (2.90%) and the low income group having the least with (0.40%). In the same vain, comparing these with respect to the regions, 58.40% of patents applied for were attributed to the Asian region followed by North America with 23.60%, Europe with 13.50%, Latin America & the Caribbean with 2.50%, Oceanic with 1.40% and Africa with 0.60%. This indicates that attention is shifting towards Asia region in terms of patent applications. Granted patent is based on novelty innovation. Since most innovation in Malaysia is based on incremental innovation, it is hard to get protection through patent. Most SMLs in Malaysia protect their IP through trademark and industrial design (WIPO Statistics Database, 2015). Furthermore, as Malaysia is categorised in the upper middle income group under the WIPO list of countries, patent application and maintenance costs become one the main reasons why many SMLs, especially the new entrants, chose not to patent their invention or innovation and opted to keep that innovation as trade secret (Thomä and Bizer, 2012). Additionally, based on the Malaysian National Corporate Innovation Index to SMEs published by ACCA in partnership with National Innovation Agency Malaysia in 2015 showed that many Malaysia SMEs had difficulty to provide information on patenting cost, whereby this issue influenced the position of the country in the aspect of innovation inputs.
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Table 6.7 Comparison of Global Patent Applications in 2014
Country Patent Applied Rank
China 825,136 1
United States 571,612 2
Japan 328,436 3
Republic of Korea 204,589 4
Germany 63,167 5
Russia Federation 44,914 6
India 43,031 7
Australia 29,717 8
United Kingdom 22,938 9
France 16,886 10
Singapore 9,722 11
Italy 9,212 12
Indonesia 7,450 13
Malaysia 7,205 14
Philippines 3,285 15
Source: World Intellectual Property Indicator, WIPO, 2014 Note: Ranking of over 192 countries
Figure 6.10 and 6.11 also revealed the current trend of patent applications based on income groups and the regions. Based on the level income group segments, the high-income group has the highest number of patent applications with (60.30%) followed by upper middle-income group with (36.40%), lower middle-income group with (2.90%) and the low income group having the least with (0.40%). In the same vain, comparing these with respect to the regions, 58.40% of patents applied for were attributed to the Asian region followed by North America with 23.60%, Europe with 13.50%, Latin America & the Caribbean with 2.50%, Oceanic with 1.40% and Africa with 0.60%. This indicates that attention is shifting towards Asia region in terms of patent applications. Granted patent is based on novelty innovation. Since most innovation in Malaysia is based on incremental innovation, it is hard to get protection through patent. Most SMLs in Malaysia protect their IP through trademark and industrial design (WIPO Statistics Database, 2015). Furthermore, as Malaysia is categorised in the upper middle income group under the WIPO list of countries, patent application and maintenance costs become one the main reasons why many SMLs, especially the new entrants, chose not to patent their invention or innovation and opted to keep that innovation as trade secret (Thomä and Bizer, 2012). Additionally, based on the Malaysian National Corporate Innovation Index to SMEs published by ACCA in partnership with National Innovation Agency Malaysia in 2015 showed that many Malaysia SMEs had difficulty to provide information on patenting cost, whereby this issue influenced the position of the country in the aspect of innovation inputs.
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Figure 6.10 Patent Applications by Income Group
Source: World Intellectual Property Indicator, WIPO, 2014
Figure 6.11 Patent Applications by Region
Source: World Intellectual Property Indicator, WIPO, 2014
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