Patent filings continue to grow

GENEVA: International patent applications via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) continued to grow in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a WIPO report released recently.

International patent applications filed via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which is one of the widely used metrics for measuring innovative activity, grew by 4% in 2020 to reach 275,900 applications, the highest number ever, despite an estimated drop in the global gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.5%, the report said.