GENEVA (Kyodo) Panasonic Corp. filed more patent applications than any other company in 2010, keeping the top spot on the patent filings list for a second consecutive year, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in a report released Wednesday.
Panasonic filed 2,154 applications last year, up 263 from the previous year, the organization said. In 2010, patent applications worldwide rose for the first time in two years, climbing 4.8 percent to 162,900, it said.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, global patent applications fell in 2009 in the first year-on-year decline since the international patent filing system was launched in 1978.
Patent filings in 2010 were lifted by strong growth from China and South Korea, which saw increases of 56.2 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, in electrical engineering and other fields.
By country, the United States was at the top with 44,855 applications, down 1.7 percent from 2009, followed by Japan with 32,156 applications, up 7.9 percent.
China surpassed the 10,000-mark for the first time, filing 12,337 applications and climbing to fourth overall from fifth place in 2009.
By company, six Japanese firms entered the top 20, including Sharp Corp., which came to eighth place, rising two notches from the previous year.