Patent papers up 27% in 2003

The total number of applications received by using the Patent Co-operation Treaty was estimated to have decreased to 110,114 in 2003, compared to nearly 115,000 in 2002.

Number of applications from developing countries, however, rose 11 per cent to around 5,950 in 2003 with India and South Korea pushing up the average.

South Korea with 2,947 applications topped the list of developing countries, followed by China (1,205), with India in the third place. But India's PCT applications growth rate was lower in 2003 compared to 51.9 per cent rise in international patent applications in 2002. Trade experts said that a majority of the 611 applications filed were for process patents.

CSIR and Ranbaxy also found a place in the top 10 international patent seekers from developing countries. Korean electronic giants LG and Samsung topped the list followed by CSIR in third place and Ranbaxy in the fifth. Hetero Drugs was placed in seventh position among the top patent seekers from the developing world.

In the global sweepstakes, Japan overtook Germany as the second largest international patent applicant. The US maintained its lead at the top slot with 39,250 applications or 35.6 per cent of the applications filed by the PCT's 123 signatories.

Japanese organisation filed 16,774 applications while German outfits filed for 13,974 patents followed by the United Kingdom (6,090), France (4,723), the Netherlands (4,180) and South Korea.

Of the 110,000 applications filed, 13.2 per cent or 14,195 were for inventions in the medical and veterinary science category which includes items like diagnostic apparatus, followed by 8.7 per cent for electric communication techniques, instruments for computing, calculating and counting (7.7 per cent), basic elements (6.2 per cent), 5.8 per cent or 6,240 for organics and instruments for measuring and testing (5.5 per cent).