Global patent filings up

Innovators around the globe filed roughly 2.7 million patent applications in 2014, up 4.5 percent from 2013 levels, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced Monday.

The specialized United Nations body pointed out the marked rise came from a boost in trademark and plant-variety filings, while industrial design applications suffered an 8.1-percent decline last year.

"Demand for intellectual property rights continued to grow around the globe in 2014," WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said in a press release on the organization's website.

"This underscores the central role that new technology and brand recognition play in determining success in today's marketplace," Gurry added.

Second-largest economy in the lead

China alone filed close on 930,000 patent applications last year, outstripping the combined total of its closest followers, the US and Japan. China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is expected to become the first agency worldwide to receive over a million applications in a year in 2015.

Most filings that came in during 2014 globally pertained to computer technology, electrical machinery, measurement technology and digital communication, WIPO reported.

US innovators filed the most applications outside their home country, with Japan and Germany as first and second runners-up by that measure. By contrast, Chinese innovators filed only a negligible number of applications outside China.