The 8.1% decline in the total number of designs filed was attributed to a sharp decrease in filings by Chinese residents. However, China was still by far the largest office for designs, receiving 564,555 applications, ahead of OHIM with 98,273.
China also received the highest number of patent applications - 928,1777 out of a worldwide total of 2.7 million. This represented growth of 12.5% from 2013 to 2014.
It was followed by the offices in the United States, Japan, Korea and the EPO. The top 20 office with the largest percentage growth was that of Iran (18.5%). Japan was the only major office to see a decline in patent filings.
In trade marks, China accounted for 2.22 million classes out of a worldwide total of 7.45 million, followed by the US, OHIM, France and Japan. Offices experiencing significant growth in trade mark applications included Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Turkey.
WIPO's World Intellectual Property Indicators 2015 includes around 140 indicators from 150 IP offices.
WIPO's dedicated page includes data, analysis and video as well as reports from previous years.
