Patent Trends
Institutions are there to identify trends and those who recognize them might be able to capitalize on them. For patent activities, the Big Five are the United States, European Union, Japan, China and South Korea. China has become a major patent hub, from acquisition to dispute settlement.
In terms of international patent filings, a majority (73%) of the filers would file in four or more countries. And about 41% of them would file more than half of their invention portfolios overseas. As a filing destination, China ranks third, while big international filers might file in Taiwan as well due to its manufacturing capacity.
For cost-benefit considerations, a great majority (over 96%) of filers would use the Patent Cooperation Treaty framework. the trend is to file in emerging economies like Brazil, India and South Africa. The European Union's Unitary Patent model (a single patent right good for its Member countries and disputes would be settled by a Unified Patent Court), if implemented, would be a new European patent trend.
In the innovative and intellectual property - based economy, it is inevitable that more valuable inventions have to be filed in the right markets. Patent filing budgets are often tight and only a minority (10%) of filers have their patent budget increased. I believe, for cost containment reasons, those who are responsible for innovation management would have to strategize to achieve more with less!