The Report, entitled “IP for a skilled, diverse and productive economy”, is aimed at promoting awareness of IP rights and discussing the latest IP statistics. In particular, the Report explores and illustrates the latest IP trends in Australia and how Australians have adapted to the changes in our social and work environment post COVID-19 lockdowns, and how a slowing economy affects IP and related productivity, wages, diversity, innovation, policies and decision making.
After record levels of patent, trade mark and design applications having been filed in 2021, patent application numbers remain steady in 2022 (with a small 0.5% decline), design applications are down by 3.6%, and trade mark applications have had the biggest drop, with filings showing an 11.2% decrease from their 2021 peak level. Rounding out the numbers, plant breeder’s rights experienced a 1.3% increase.
Notably, all IP filings saw significant decreases in Australian domestic applicants, likely reflecting a correction from significant growth over the pandemic period, and the impact from rapidly increasing costs of living, rising interest rates and declining real wealth.
Patents
Here are the stand out statistics from the patent data:-
· IP Australia received 32,264 standard patent applications in 2022, which is a small decrease of 0.5% from 2021.
· The data shows that national phase entry from PCT applications is the most common filing option in Australia, with 23,685 national phase entries and around 8,500 direct entries recorded last year.
· Filings by Australian residents decreased by 16.8% in 2022, while filings by non-residents increased by 1.2%. and made up the majority of patent applications.
· Non-residents were responsible for just over 90% of applications in 2022 with the United States the biggest contributor at 45.7% share of total applications, followed by China (6.7%), Japan (4.9%), the United Kingdom (4.8%) and Germany (4.3%).
· Of major concern is the persistent decline in the filing of provisional applications over the past decade. Just over 5,400 provisional applications were filed in 2011, which has now dropped by over 25% to 4,037 in 2022.
· The top five international patent applicants were LG Electronics, IBM, Huawei Technologies, Becton Dickinson And Company, and Apple, while the top five domestic applicants were Aristocrat Technologies Australia, CSIRO, Monash University, Thanh Tri Lam (applications related to renewable energy technology) and Canva.
· Around 3,100 businesses with active operations in Australia hold a domestic (Australian) patent, with these patent holding businesses contribute to around 10% of Australia’s GDP and 7% of workforce.
Trade Marks
Here are the stand out statistics from the trade mark data:-
· In 2022, around 78,800 trade mark applications were received by IP Australia, which represents a 11.2% decline from the record level in 2022.
· 75% of the applications in 2022 were direct applications, as opposed to applications through WIPO’s Madrid route.
· Resident filings decreased by 16.3% but continued to hold a relatively higher share of trade mark applications (56.6%) in 2022 when compared to non-residents.
· The leading foreign countries of origin were the United States with a 13.5% share of total applications, followed by China (7.0%), the United Kingdom (3.5%), Germany (2.3%) and Japan (1.7%).
· The top five international applicants were Glaxo Group, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Hyundai Motor Company, and Philip Morris Products, while the top five domestic applicants were Endeavour Group, Aristocrat Technologies Australia, Pharmacor, Sportsbet , and Confectionery Trading Co.
· Around 53,900 businesses with active operations in Australia hold a trade mark annually. These trade mark holding businesses contribute to around 34% of Australia’s GDP, 32% of workforce, 42% R&D spend and 49% exports.
Designs
Here are the stand out statistics from the design data:-
· Around 7,800 design applications were filed in 2022, which is a 3.6% decrease over the previous year. Over 1,240 designs were certified in 2022, representing a 9.8% decline from the previous year.
· The leading countries of origin were the United States with a 27.8% share of total applications, followed by China (10.9%), the United Kingdom (4.4%), France (3.1%) and Germany (3.0%) in 2022. Notably, total share of designs applications from China grew from 1.8% in 2013 to 10.9% in 2022.
· The top five international applicants were Capital One Services, Proludic, LG Electronics, Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, while the top five domestic applicants were Phoenix Industries P/L, Zimmermann Wear P/L, Schneider Electric Australia P/L, Australian Honeybee P/L and Autopacific Australia P/L.
· Around 590 businesses with active operations in Australia hold a design right in 2020. The use of design rights has become more extensive over time: as a proportion of all active Australian businesses, design rights holders have increased by around a third over the period 2010/11 to 2019/20.
