Patent grants up 10% at IP5 offices in 2021

The world's five largest IP offices (IP5) have published the IP5 Statistics Report 2021 on the IP5 website. According to the report, in 2021, the IP5 granted 1.5 million patents, an increase of 10% on the previous year, and received 2.9 million patent applications (+3.7%).

The report is an annual compilation of patent statistics published by the European Patent Office (EPO) the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The publication includes developments at all five offices, detailed coverage of similarities and differences in their patent grant procedures, as well as comprehensive worldwide data from WIPO and patent offices around the globe.

The IP5 Statistics Report 2021 confirms that demand for patents grew markedly in 2021 at the EPO, which received 188 600 European patent applications, up 4.5% on 2020. Rising to the multiple challenges resulting from the pandemic, the EPO continued to perform strongly in 2021, achieving steady improvements in timeliness. It reduced pendency in examination to 23 months while maintaining pendency in search below 5 months. The EPO granted some 108 800 European patents last year.

The IP5 offices have been co-operating since 2007 to improve the efficiency and quality of the global patent system by delivering joint products and services.

Detailed statistics on patenting activity specifically at the EPO for the year 2022 will also be published this coming March.

Further information:

IP5 Statistics Report 2021

IP5 co-operation

EPO statistics and trends