GENEVA — Global patent applications in 2018 saw a ninth straight yearly increase, with China driving the overall growth in demand for intellectual property (IP) rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said on Oct 16.

"Asia continues to outpace other regions in filing activity for patents, trademarks, industrial designs and other intellectual property rights that are at the center of the global economy," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.

"China alone accounted for almost half of all the world's patent filings, with India also registering impressive increases. Asia has become a global hub for innovation," he added.

According to WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators report, innovators across the globe filed 3.3 million patent applications in 2018, up 5.2 percent for a ninth straight yearly increase, while global trademark filing activity rose to 14.3 million and that for industrial designs reached 1.3 million.

China's National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) received the highest number of patent applications in 2018, a record 1.54 million applications that amounts to 46.4 percent of the global total and is similar in magnitude to the combined total of the offices ranked two through 11, the report said.

In addition, China's relevant office received 5,760 plant variety applications in 2018, up 29 percent in 2017 and accounting for over a quarter of the plant variety applications filed worldwide.

Meanwhile, the US maintained its primacy in patent applications filed in export markets, said the report.