This is a list of countries by patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

s, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

World Intellectual Property Organization

The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....

 in 2007 and 2010.

Top 20 countries in 2010

Patent applications by country
(Last data: 2008)

Rank	Country	No. of Patent Applications
1	Japan	502,054
2	United States	400,769
3	Mainland China	203,481
4	South Korea	172,342
5	Germany	135,748
6	Early Modern France	47,597
7	United Kingdom	42,296
8	Russia	29,176
9	Switzerland	26,640
10	Netherlands	25,927
11	Italy	21,911
12	Canada	21,330
13	Sweden	17,051
14	Australia	11,230
15	Finland	10,133
16	Israel	9,877
17	Spain	8,277
18	Denmark	7,719
19	Austria	7,711
20	Belgium	7,592

Patents granted by country
(Last data: 2008)

Rank	Country	No. of Patents Granted
1	Japan	239,338
2	United States	146,871
3	South Korea	79,652
4	Germany	53,752
5	Mainland China	48,814
6	Early Modern France	25,535
7	Russia	22,870
8	Italy	12,789
9	United Kingdom	12,162
10	Switzerland	11,291
11	Netherlands	11,103
12	Canada	8,188
13	Sweden	7,453
14	Finland	4,675
15	Australia	4,386
16	Spain	3,636
17	Belgium	2,948
18	Israel	2,665
19	Denmark	2,347
20	Austria	2,306

Patents in force
(Last data: 2008, mixed)

Rank	Country	No. of Patents in Force
1	United States	1,872,872
2	Japan	1,270,367
3	Mainland China	828,054
4	South Korea	624,419
5	United Kingdom	599,062
6	Germany	509,879
7	Early Modern France	438,926
8	Europe	268,384 (E.P.O. European Patent Office The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative... )
9	Hong Kong	227,918
10	Spain	166,079
11	Russia	147,067
12	Canada	121,889
13	Australia	107,708
14	Sweden	105,571
15	Belgium	87,189 (2003)
16	Republic of Ireland	78,761
17	Mexico	73,076
18	Monaco	50,392
19	Luxembourg	49,947
20	Finland	47,070

Top 10 countries in 2007

• Change in value from the last report is given as follows: = increase. = steady. = decrease.

| align="center" | Top 10 countries of filing

Rank	Country	% Change
1	Japan	0.9
2	United States	9.5
3	Mainland China	32.9
4	South Korea	14.8
5	Germany	1.7
6	Canada	1.5
7	Russia	6.8
8	Australia	3.3
9	United Kingdom	-6.6
10	India	1.3

| align="center" | Resident filings

Rank	Country	% Change
1	Japan	-0.1
2	United States	9.7
3	South Korea	16.1
4	Mainland China	42.1
5	Germany	-0.2
6	Russia	2.9
7	United Kingdom	-7.0
8	Early Modern France	-1.7
9	Australia	1.1
10	India	-8.0

| align="center" | Non-resident filings

Rank	Country	% Change
1	United States	6.3
2	Japan	11.4
3	Germany	6.0
4	South Korea	27.3
5	Early Modern France	8.1
6	Netherlands	12.7
7	United Kingdom	7.7
8	Switzerland	15.6
9	Canada	3.3
10	Italy	7.4

| align="center" | Resident filings per million population

Rank	Country	% Change
1	Japan	-0.3
2	South Korea	15.6
3	United States	8.6
4	Germany	-0.1
5	Australia	0.0
6	New Zealand	14.7
7	Finland	-9.3
8	Denmark	-11.9
9	United Kingdom	-7.5
10	Sweden	-9.2

| align="center" | Resident filings per GDP

Rank	Country	% Change
1	South Korea	11.7
2	Japan	1.7
3	Germany	-1.1
4	New Zealand	13.9
5	United States	6.3
6	Russia	-3.3
7	Australia	-1.7
8	Finland	-10.9
9	Mainland China	29.0
10	Denmark	-14.3

| align="center" | Resident filings per R&D expenditure

Rank	Country	Million $1 R&D
1	South Korea	5.08
2	Japan	3.37
3	New Zealand	1.82
4	Russia	1.56
5	Ukraine	1.09
6	Australia	1.02
7	Mainland China	0.91
8	Germany	0.91
9	Poland	0.77
10	United States	0.72

| align="center" | Number of patents granted

Rank	Country	No. of Patents
1	United States	197,019
2	Japan	185,827
3	South Korea	63,865
4	Germany	48,700
5	Early Modern France	22,413
6	Mainland China	21,519
7	Russia	19,948
8	United Kingdom	13,304
9	Switzerland	8,583
10	Netherlands	8,416

| align="center" | Patents in force

Rank	Country	No. of Patents
1	Japan	1,613,776
2	United States	1,214,556
3	South Korea	353,251
4	Germany	245,403
5	Early Modern France	172,912
6	Russia	99,819
7	United Kingdom	79,855
8	Mainland China	59,087
9	Canada	55,977
10	Switzerland	52,754

External links

• World Intellectual Property Organization