A new WIPO report shows that in 2012 global patent filings increased at their strongest rate in nearly two decades.  Industrial-design registration was the strongest category.

The report shows patent filings grew by 9.2% (2.35 million applications filed) in 2012, utility model filings by 23.4%, industrial design by 17%, and trademark filings by 6.0%.

The 2013 edition of the World Intellectual Property indicators also shows that for the first time, China tops the ranking but in Europe countries like Germany and the U.K. had more filings.  However France (-0.7%) and Italy (-4.2%) received fewer applications in 2012 than in 2011.  Some analysts predict the cost of a Chinese patent will be on-par with U.S. patent cases within two (2) years and that Chinese patent filings will be higher than U.S. patent filings within five (5) years.