Recently, WIPO released the 2019 Annual Report of the World IP Indicators (WIPI) in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to the report, US residents had submitted 230,085 applications for the equivalent patents overseas in 2018 and continued to lead the world; China went after Japan, Germany and South Korea, ranked 4^th in the world with 66,429 applications. In addition, about 30% of the valid patents of China were filed by foreign applicants.

In 2018, there were approximately 65,900 effective GIs worldwide, of which China ranked 2^nd in the world with 7,247 pieces. The effective GIs associated with wine and spirits accounted for approximately 51.1% of the world total in 2018, followed by agricultural products and food (29.9%) and handicrafts (2.7%). In 2018, China had more than 100 valid GIs for handicrafts.

In addition, the report showed that, in 2018, global innovators had submitted a total of 3.3 million invention patent applications, making it the 9^th consecutive year of growth with an increase of 5.2%; also, the global trademark applications increased to 14.3 million; industrial design applications reached 1.3 million; and the global plant variety applications reached 20,210 pieces, up 8.9%. (Source: China IP News)