GENEVA (Kyodo) Panasonic Corp. filed more patent applications than any other company in 2009, surpassing China's Huawei Technologies Co. to take the top spot for patent filings for the first time in two years, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Panasonic filed 1,891 applications last year, up by 162 from the previous year, compared with 1,847 by Huawei Technologies.
Worldwide, patent applications fell 4.5 percent from the previous year to 155,900 in 2009, the first decline since the current filing system was established in 1978, according to the organization.
By country, the United States took the top spot with 45,790 applications, down 11.4 percent from 2008. The figure represents 29.4 percent of the world's total patent filings.
Japan came in second with 29,827 applications, up 3.6 percent, followed by Germany with 16,736, down 11.2 percent.