China has exceeded the United States in patent filings and is gaining "tremendous ground" as a leader in setting global standards, experts said.

The dominance has shifted in patent filings from the US, Japan and Germany to emerging countries, particularly the "exponential growth" of China, Lisa Jorgenson, deputy director-general at the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, said at an April 27 virtual conference hosted by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

"We see that Chinese companies, universities and research institutions have become IP owners and users over the last several decades at an almost unprecedented scale. And we believe that this is actually a good thing for the overall IP system," she said.

She illustrated the growth by using the example of China's patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT. In 1995, China filed 97 patent applications. Last year, it filed almost 69,000, Jorgenson said. China was the top user of the PCT by origin last year, having surpassed the US in 2019 and 2020.

Huawei was the top PCT applicant last year. Three of the top eight PCT applicants were from China, she said.

"When we look at the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, China is issuing more patents and getting more patents around the world than the United States now," said Andrei Iancu, former director of the US Patent and Trademark Office.

In other areas such as publications in peer-reviewed journals and the number of PhD students in the relevant technologies, China also has outpaced the US, he said.

'Tremendous ground'

"And it is gaining tremendous ground when it comes to leadership of standards bodies around the world," he added.

Patent data shows that collaboration for innovation is becoming increasingly more international and it calls for multilateral collaboration in the development of patent law, said Jorgenson.

There are only a few formal patent-related treaties that exist, she said, so "a strong political will" by member states is needed to craft an international solution "in a favorable environment".

She said the WIPO has been closely engaging Chinese users of the IP system and the organization intends to have future engagement with China.

"China is the beneficiary of WIPO's technical assistance, but they also host WIPO's technical assistance programs, mainly for developing and least-developed country participants," said Jorgenson.

In 2019, China was fifth among the top represented countries at WIPO after France, the UK, Switzerland and the US, she said. The organization also has Chinese staff members and an external office in China to provide global IP services and alternative dispute resolution services, or ADR services, in the country.

The WIPO ADR center has handled more than 60 mediation and arbitration cases between Chinese and foreign parties, mostly from the US or Europe.