New Chinese Patent Data Source: Faster and More Accurate Records

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When it comes to international patent filings, China has been turning up the heat. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) more than half of all PCT applications, which allow simultaneous filing in many countries, were filed by Asian companies in 2018. China leads the pack, and especially of note are their large numbers of AI and quantum computing patents. They are expected to pass the US in PCT patent applications within the next two years.1
 

Because Chinese patents are a critical source of information, we’ve introduced a new authoritative data source to improve the quality and timeliness of our Chinese records. The data source has been in place since late December 2018 for new publications and updates, and a full reload of older records will begin soon. After this work has been completed, we will begin working on exciting data enhancements, including standardized company names.
 
As part of this transition, our new Chinese to English translations have improved substantially and the older ones will be replaced soon. New records coming into CLAIMS Direct are taking advantage of supervised machine translations originating directly from the source.

More reasons to keep track of Chinese patents
 
Let’s take a look at the numbers for China alone:
  • In 2017, China filed around 40% of the 3.17 million patent applications submitted worldwide.2
  • China is the only country that was granted more US patents in 2018 than 2017. The overall trend was down, but patent applications to Chinese companies increased by 12%.
  • China filed more than 30,000 applications for AI in 2018, which is a 10x jump in 5 years and about 2.5 times more than the US.3
One reason for the growth of patent applications and grants by Chinese companies is their strength in technology areas powering the 4th industrial revolution. Mosahid Khan, head of IP statistics at WIPO, explained to E&T Magazine that the computing and IT domains depend heavily on patents, and China-based telecom giants Huawei Technologies Huwaii and ZTE, are no exception.4
 
IFI customers now receive the latest data coming out of China faster than most other sources, and can understand it better thanks to improved translations.

References
  1. WIPO. (2019, March 19) WIPO 2018 IP Services: Innovators File Record Number of International Patent Applications, With Asia Now Leading https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2019/article_0004.html
  2. WIPO. (2018, December 3) World Intellectual Property Indicators: Filings for Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs Reach New Records on Strength in China. https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2018/article_0012.html
  3.  Heubl, Ben. (2019, March 22) How Asia’s behemoth IT companies boost international patent applications. E&T Magazine. https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2019/03/international-patent-applications-soon-dominated-by-china 
  4. Okoshi, Yuki. (2019, March 10) China overtakes US in AI patent rankings, Nikkei Asian Review. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/China-overtakes-US-in-AI-patent-rankings