Intellectual property (patents)

2023

Reduction of the number of applications for inventions to 26.7 thousand

In 2023 Rospatent , 26.7 thousand applications for inventions were received, which is slightly less than a year ago (26.9 thousand). The First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov cited such data at the final board of the department on February 15, 2024.

As Kommersant writes with reference to Belousov's statement, "the fall in foreign applications leveled the increased activity of domestic developers." So, in 2023, at the end of 2023, Rospatent received 8.7% more applications from Russian inventors than a year earlier, and the number of requests from foreigners decreased by 24%.

Rospatent received 26.7 thousand applications for inventions

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, at the end of 2023, the number of applications for patents in medicine, oil production and oil refining increased in Russia (an increase of 6%). In addition, the number of applications in the field of biotechnology (3%), pharmaceuticals (14%) and automotive (8%) has increased.

As noted in Rospatent, Russian business is increasingly paying attention to protecting the design of finished products. In 2023, according to the department's materials, registration of industrial samples was also marked by active dynamics - the number of applications increased by 30% and in the same period companies were issued 5 thousand patents for unique design of goods. Registration of Russian software has been steadily growing for four years in a row. If 2020 thousand applications were received in 21, then 35.5 thousand in 2023, according to data published on the Rospatent website.

The main increase in patent applications from Rospatent was received from the scientific sector, said the head of the department, Yuri Zubov. Almost half of all applications that the department received in 2023 were from universities and research organizations, which is 14% more than a year earlier, he said.^[1]

Increase in the number of litigation due to violation of intellectual rights in Russia by 20% to 52 thousand lawsuits

The number of litigation related to the protection of intellectual property in 2023 reached 52 thousand claims, which is 21% more than a year earlier. Compared to 2021, the number of such proceedings increased by 55%. This is stated in a joint study released in February 2024 by the Moscow Digital School and the EBR company.

As Kommersant writes with reference to this report, over 80% of the proceedings related to the protection of intellectual property in 2023 concerned disputes to protect exclusive rights. Their number increased by 21%, to 44 thousand. Disputes on the protection of copyright and related rights increased by 67%, patent proceedings - by 29%, on exclusive rights to trademarks - by 5%. At the same time, the number of cases related to the protection of exclusive rights to corporate names in 2023 decreased by 47%.

The number of litigation related to the protection of intellectual property in 2023 reached 52 thousand claims

Lawyers interviewed by the publication associate the increase in the number of disputes due to violation of intellectual rights with the development of marketplaces and e-commerce: most often sellers and manufacturers of goods are suing. Basically, proceedings arise if the seller sells goods without the consent of the copyright holder.

Georgy Davidyan, executive director of Media-NN, adds that the termination by foreign companies of brand licensing in the Russian Federation did not affect the aspects of legal protection against counterfeit goods. Such disputes account for at least 25% of all. In practice, according to him, they are initiated on the facts of illegal use of trademarks and copyright objects: audiovisual, musical and literary works, photographs and drawings.

In addition, an increase in the number of disputes in the field of copyright could provoke the use of phonograms of foreign music artists in public places without concluding agreements and paying the appropriate remuneration, said Alexander Zhuravlev, managing partner of the EBR law firm and co-founder of the Moscow Digital School educational platform.^[2]

Medtech and drones have become the leading industries in Russia in terms of the number of patents

In 2023, the volume of investments in research and development increased in Russia, and the number of patent applications from business increased sharply. This was announced on January 19, 2024 by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent).

It is said that in 2023, from domestic companies, scientific centers and universities, approximately 8% more applications for patent registration were submitted compared to the previous year. Moreover, in certain technological areas, an increase of double-digit percent was recorded. The share of investments in intellectual property amounted to 6%. For comparison, in 2017-2019, this figure was at the level of 3%.

In first place in the number of patents in Russia in 2023 is the medical tech sector, which includes pharmaceuticals, technological diagnostics of diseases, etc. The drivers of the industry are the distribution of generics and reverse engineering of foreign medical equipment. These niches are rapidly filling domestic enterprises and scientific organizations, which stimulates the patenting of new developments.

In the second position in terms of the number of patents are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and aircraft. The state allocated 4.3 billion rubles until 2030 to develop and test layout technologies and principles of drone movement. Three scientific organizations were involved in the work, including MIPT. 2 billion rubles are planned for competitions and technological tests in the field of UAVs, 2.3 billion rubles for scientific research and the creation of intellectual property objects.

The third place in the top of patent applications is occupied by engine building, followed by instrumental diagnostics and oil refining, where an increase of 35% was recorded in 2023. About half of all patent applications are from universities and research centers, while 25-30% comes from innovative businesses.^[3]

The number of software patents in Russia for the year increased by 23.3% to 31.9 thousand programs

In 2023 Rospatent , he registered 31.9 thousand computer programs, which is 23.3% more than a year earlier. This was reported in mid-January 2024 by Online Patent, referring to the statistics of the department.

As Kommersant writes with reference to the materials of Online Patent, the most evidence of registration of rights to software (503) and databases (270) in 2023 was received by the Department of Information Technology and Communications, subordinate to the Committee on Information and Communications of St. Petersburg. In the case of relay software, there are components of the Safe City systems, other city monitoring and document management systems, the newspaper clarifies with reference to the SPARK-Interfax system. Data Base, in addition to the authorities of St. Petersburg, universities were most actively registered: RANEPA, HSE, Sechenov Institute and others.

The publication also notes that the registration of rights to software and databases is growing faster than for inventions and industrial designs. Thus, the number of patents issued during 2023 for inventions and utility models remained actually at the level of 2022 - 30.1 thousand against 30.4 thousand. And the number of patents for industrial designs decreased by 5.5%, to 5.2 thousand.

Experts associate the growth of registration of rights with the plans of companies to include products in the registers of Russian software and databases. Registration of rights is not a prerequisite for inclusion in the list, but it facilitates confirmation of the ownership of rights to a specific person, believes Ekaterina Abashina, lawyer of the Central Control Commission of Moscow "DBA and Partners."

According to Anton Yakovlev, an expert Kontur the.Focus service, registration of rights to the software does not guarantee protection against plagiarism, but allows providing copyright holders with evidence in case of a dispute^[4]

In Russia, an increase in patenting of IT developments was recorded

In 2023, Russian IT developers submitted 30,463 applications for registration of intellectual property. This is approximately 14.8% more compared to the result for 2022. Such figures on December 20, 2023 are cited by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent).

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, referring to the Rospatent data, domestic developers are actively occupying the niches that were vacated after the departure of foreign companies from the Russian Federation against the background of the current geopolitical situation. And this stimulates research and development work in the IT field, which, in turn, leads to an increase in the number of patent applications.

The head of Rospatent, Yuri Zubov, notes that the main trend in patenting in 2023 was the increase in the number of developments in critical technological areas. Among them are named medicine, instrumental diagnostics, oil refining, aircraft, etc. The number of patent applications in the field of domestic software in annual terms has doubled, and in the field of artificial intelligence - by more than 50%.

We saw such figures for the first time in several years. This means that companies are striving to replace the vacated niches in the market, increase their capitalization at the expense of intangible assets and understand that it is the patent that is the entry point to state support measures, says Zubov.

According to estimates, in 2023, 4333 decisions were included in the register of domestic software: this is 16% more than in 2022. At the same time, it became three times more common to exclude products from the register: if in 2022 250 decisions were withdrawn from it, then in 2023 - 792. The bulk of the excluded packages - about 600 - are records of the same type from one company. In other words, individual names have been removed, which have been collected under one registry entry. As of the end of 2023, 19,417 products are listed in the register of domestic software.^[5]

Leaders in the number of patents on 6G networks named

As of November 2023, China is the leader in the number of patents in the field of mobile communications technology 6G, but South Korea is demonstrating the greatest readiness to implement this standard. This is stated in the Uswitch study, the results of which were released on November 17, 2023. Read more here.

Named Russian leading companies in the number of patents for digital technologies

In June 2023, the Institute for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics (ISIEZ) of the Higher School of Economics published the results of a study assessing the "manufacturability" of Russian IT companies, digital platforms and ecosystems. The result was a rating of such organizations by the size of the patent portfolio in the field of digital technology. The top 3 includes Yandex (411 patents for inventions, utility models, industrial designs), Kaspersky Lab (408) and Sber (305).

The top was compiled by the size of the patent portfolio in the field of digital technologies, that is, by the number of existing Russian patents in "digital" areas. Nevertheless, they did not get there,,, Ozon Wildberries VK"", Avito"" - Tinkoff many large Russian digital platforms and ecosystems currently do not have valid patents.

The patent analysis showed that the country's digital companies make a significant contribution to the development of digital technologies. However, it is provided, for the most part, by a rather narrow group of "national champions." The top three account for about 76% of "digital" patents for inventions that belong to companies included in the rating, and almost 95% for industrial designs in this area.

It is noted that the approaches of the rating leaders to the formation of a patent portfolio differ significantly. For example, Yandex uses a mixed approach: in the company's portfolio, almost three quarters are patents for inventions and one quarter for industrial designs. Kaspersky Lab protects almost all patented developments as inventions. In the digital portfolio of Sberbank, most (almost 70%) are occupied by patents for industrial designs.

The top 10 with the number of existing patents of the Russian Federation in the range from 67 to 11 includes small or specialized companies InfoTeCS, National Radio Engineering Bureau, ITV, Smart Engines, ElVIS-NeoTech, Vizex, InfoWatch and Supertel^[6]

2022

The number of patent applications in the world for the year updated the record

In 2022, approximately 3.46 million patent applications were filed globally, which is a new record. At the same time, innovators from China, the USA, Japan, South Korea and Germany are most active. Such data are contained in the report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which was released on November 6, 2023.

Applicants from China in 2022 filed about 1.58 million patent applications, that is, almost half of the global total. In second place are the United States with a score of 505,539, and Japan closes the top three with 405,361 documents. This is followed by South Korea with 272,315 applications and Germany with 155,896. China (+ 3.1% compared to 2021), South Korea (+ 1.9%) and the United States (+ 1.1%) showed positive dynamics in 2022, while Germany (-4.8%) and Japan (-1.6%), on the contrary, recorded a decline in the number of patent applications.

It is noted that most of the 20 leading departments (13 out of 20) received more patent applications in 2022 than in 2021. The biggest increase was in India, where year-on-year applications rose 31.6 per cent. Also, steady growth was registered in Switzerland (+ 6.1%), China (+ 3.1%), Austria (+ 2.5%) and Britain (+ 2.5%). The overall growth in China and India is mainly due to a significant increase in the number of applications submitted by residents.

In 2021, the last year for which there is complete data due to the delay between the submission of applications and their publication, Computer Technologies became the most common field of technology in published patent applications, accounting for 11.1% of the global total. This is followed by Electromechanics (6.4%), Instrumentation (5.8%), Medical Technologies (5.2%) and Digital Communications (4.9%).

World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023

The number of applications for patents in the field of quantum technologies in Russia decreased for the first time since 2019

In 2022 Russia , 16 applications for inventions in the field of quantum technologies (quantum communications, sensors and computing) were filed against 28 in 2021. The decrease in the number of such requests for patents occurred for the first time since 2019. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company Dsight and the investment fund "," Rising which were published in mid-June 2023. More. here

Rospatent received 27 thousand applications for inventions

In 2022 Rospatent , almost 27 thousand applications for inventions were submitted, 70% of which are Russian. This was announced on January 24, 2023 by the head of the department. Yuri Zubov

Domestic companies still remain on the technology development agenda, continue to register their own developments in Russia and abroad with the prospect of export, to defend their rights in the courts... The domestic patent system has demonstrated resistance to external influences, he said.

According to Zubov, foreign business, which has suspended activities in Russia due to sanctions pressure, nevertheless continues to support its patents.

For foreigners, the Russian market is still interesting both in terms of protecting their developments and in order for the developments to continue to work. But for some large companies, sanctions restrictions leave an imprint and they are forced to pause their work, - said the head of Rospatent.

He added that the number of foreign applications in 2022 did not increase, but to maintain the validity of patents, they are in a "stable state."

At the same time, Yuri Zubov noted positive trends in certain technological areas. Thus, applications for patents in the field of surgery became 45% more, for the technology of instrumental diagnosis of diseases increased - by 32%. For three years in a row, software registration has been growing by 20%, in 2022 almost 31 thousand applications, and almost all of them are Russian, Zubov said.

He stressed that a serious scientific and technological reserve has been accumulated in Russian universities and scientific organizations. They account for almost half of the total number of applications. The head of Rospatent also noted the high activity of Russian companies in the field of protecting their own brand: the number of applications in 2022 exceeded 112 thousand. Over the past two years, the market for the turnover of rights to trademarks and software has grown by 19%, he added on January 24, 2023.^[7]

China accounts for 84% of blockchain patents in the world

On September 2, 2022, the Prime Minister PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA announced that he China had the largest number of patents blockchain for all countries of the world - 84% of the total, which indicates the continued commitment Beijing of this technology, despite the continued many years of tough restrictions and a ban on. cryptocurrencies More. here

The number of applications for registration of chips in Russia soared by 40%

According to the results of the first half of 2022, Rospatent registered 40% more applications for registration of integrated circuit topologies (TIMS, detailed layout of the microcircuit) than in the same period of 2021. The agency disclosed the relevant data in August 2022. Read more here.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized for IT developers the right to protect authorship in a collective product

In June 2022 , the Constitutional Court (CC) of Russia recognized for IT developers the right to protect authorship in a collective product. The decision was made based on the situation of the Rostov programmer Anton Mamichev, who defended the copyright for the eLearning Metadata Manager program he created. Read more here.

Mishustin reset compensation to patent holders from unfriendly countries

In March 2022, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree that zeroed compensation to patent holders from unfriendly countries. Changes have been made to the methodology for determining compensation that is paid to the patent holder when deciding to use the invention without his consent.

According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta with reference to the corresponding document, now in relation to patent holders from unfriendly countries, the amount of payment is 0% of the actual proceeds from the production and sale of goods, the performance of work and the provision of services, if the corresponding inventions, a useful model or an industrial model are used for this.

In particular, the need to compensate for losses from forced licensing of drugs whose patents belong to companies from unfriendly countries is removed. Earlier, R-Pharm received a compulsory license for remdesivir until December 31, 2022.

The list of unfriendly countries was approved by the government on March 7, 2022. It included Canada, USA countries European Union and a number of other states. According to the decree, Governments of the Russian Federation all transactions and operations of Russian companies with citizens and firms from unfriendly Russia countries will be approved by the legal commission for monitoring the implementation of foreign investments.

Based on the analysis of the received documents and the nature of the future agreement, a decision will be made to approve or refuse its implementation. In this case, permission may be issued to conduct a transaction with the designation of the conditions for its execution.

The main goal of this work is to ensure the financial stability of the country in conditions of external sanctions pressure. By a separate order, Mikhail Mishustin expanded the composition of the legal commission to control the implementation of foreign investments. It includes representatives of the Central Bank and the presidential administration, - noted in the press service of the Cabinet.[8]

2021

The record number of international patents in history is 277 thousand. China and the United States lead

The number of international patent applications in 2021 reached a record high in history and amounted to 277,500 (WIPO).

Asian countries accounted for 54.1% of all patent applications filed in 2021. Most applications came from China (69,540). China is followed by the United States (59,570), Japan (50,260), the Republic of Korea (20,678) and Germany (17,322). Russia took 23rd place (1095).

The leader in the number of published applications in 2021 was the Chinese company Huawei Technologies (6952). Following it in the ranking are the American Qualcomm (3931), the South Korean Samsung Electronics (3041) and LG Electronics (2885) and the Japanese Mitsubishi Electric (2673).

As products become more complex, it becomes more difficult for one company to remain competitive alone. Currently, 7,000 and 60,000 patents are required to develop a smartphone or hybrid car, respectively. In the past, one product has been associated with one patent. Today, even the production of a golf ball is associated with about 50 patents.

IBM has become the leader in the number of patents in the field of machine learning

In early March 2022, BanklessTimes analysts published data according to which IBM leads in the number of patents in the field machine learning (ML). The herself IBM claims that its inventors are developing technologies to spur business to expand use. artificial intelligence More. here

Russia ranked 11th in the ranking of countries in terms of the number of patents for inventions

At the end of 2021, Russia took 11th place in the ranking of countries in terms of the number of patents for IFI Claims Patent Services inventions, while a year earlier the Russian Federation first got into the top 10.

As Kommersant writes with reference to this study, in 2021, Russian companies registered 54.6 thousand patents in the United States, including Kaspersky Lab (43 patents), ABBYY (11 patents), Rusal (eight), Skoltech and Rosatom (four patents each).

If we talk about the patent activity of Russian business in the domestic market, taking into account the results of the registration activity of foreign companies in, Russia then the clear leader in 2021 was Tatneft"," which received 138 patents. This is followed by Volgograd State Technical University 101 patents, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin which received 95 patents, a state corporation to promote the development, production and export of high-tech industrial products "" with Rostec 91 patents. Closes the top five "," Yandex received 90 Russian patents.

The IFI Claims report also traces the positive dynamics of patent activity among Russian universities. Of the total number of organizations of the Russian Federation declared in the rating (379), more than 65% are higher educational institutions.

The growing interest of universities in patenting developments is obvious, - said Sergey Matveev, President of the Intellectual Property Federation (FIS), Deputy Chairman of the RSPP Committee on Intellectual Property and Creative Industries. - However, the trend is not new, when the country's reputation in the innovation sphere is saved by scientific and educational centers, not corporations. Unfortunately, only three corporations got into the top 10 of the rating, and only five in the top 20.

As noted by the head of IFI Claims Patent Services Mike Bakroft, whose words are quoted in a press release, in 2021 there was the steepest reduction in the number of patents issued over the past decade - the previous similar failure was in 2012. At the same time, Bakroft stressed that the number of patents is an important indicator of market success and a favorable economic situation.^[9]

Patent passivity is a forced but global trend

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services conducted a study of the patent activity of the American innovative market. This became known on January 11, 2021. Read more here.

China publishes strategy to protect intellectual property

On October 28, 2021, the State Council of China published a plan for the protection and application of intellectual property rights for the 14th five-year plan, which will be between 2021 and 2025. To assess the success of achieving the goals, the plan put forward eight criteria, including the number of expensive patents that every 10 thousand people possess.

According to the plan, the country expects a significant improvement in the management's ability to protect and apply intellectual property rights by 2025. By this time, thanks to the application of rights in this area, it will become a powerful incentive for the high-quality economic and social development of China, the document adds. The plan lists the following tasks: strengthening protection for the protection and application of intellectual property rights, increasing the effectiveness of their transformation into tangible results, further development of services, promoting international cooperation, as well as assistance in training personnel and fostering a favorable social cultural environment.

The issue of protecting rights in the field of intellectual property is the subject of serious disagreements between the United States and the PRC. Observance of intellectual property rights is a prerequisite for the development, in particular, of the national software industry. First of all, the protection of rights in this area is necessary for software manufacturers (software), which is used the wider, the stricter the theft of proprietary software products.

China A collection of 72 articles written by the current Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was published in Xi Jinping which he explains the principles of building a new model for the country's development. At its new round, there should be a transition from quantitative criteria to their high quality, when attention will be paid not so much to the rapid growth of the economy, which from 2011 to 2021 has already begun to be considered a characteristic feature of the country, but to high-quality development. These are completely different approaches: instead of expanding the scale, moving to structural optimization, instead of creating the necessary basic conditions, moving to creating innovation in China.^[10]

Australian court allows AI to obtain patents

An Australian court allowed AI to obtain patents. This became known on August 3, 2021.

Australian laws nowhere say a patent applicant must necessarily be human, a judge has said.

Having examined the case of Stephen Thaler, who lost the case in courts of other jurisdictions, the Australian Federal Court ruled in July 2021 that the Australian Patents Committee made a mistake in considering that AI could not be considered an inventor. Judge Justice Beach came to this conclusion, since Australian laws do not anywhere say that a patent applicant must necessarily be a person.

In my opinion, within the framework of the law, artificial intelligence systems can be inventors. First, the inventor is the noun of the agent; the agent may be an animate or inanimate object inventing things. Secondly, reality is reflected here from the point of view of many other patentable inventions, where it is impossible to say for sure that a person is the inventor. Thirdly, nothing in the Law contradicts the above, "the court said.

In rejecting Thaler's patent, the Australian Patents Committee was guided by flawed logic, the judge said.

From the Committee's point of view, if you have a patentable invention but no human inventor, then you cannot obtain a patent. Nothing in the Law justifies such a result, "the judge said.

The judge resubmitted Thaler's application to the Patent Committee and ordered a review of his reasons for refusal.

In several countries around the world, Thaler has applied for patents on behalf of DABUS (Device for the Autonomous Boot-strapping of Unified Consciousness). Among the things DABUS invented are a food container and glowing badges.

However, a patent specialist in Australia, Mark Summerfield, disagrees with this court decision. In his opinion, it can lead to the emergence of a large number of "garbage" patents.

Just because patents are (or at least can be) good does not mean at all that the more different patents registered in different ways by different organizations, the better, Summerfield said.

According to the lawyer, a huge number of patented AI inventions will make it impossible for other innovations to appear^[11] court allowed^[12].

Putin signed a decree on the creation of a center for the protection of intellectual rights

At the end of June 2021, the president Russia Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the creation of a special state organization to protect intellectual rights. It got its name. Russian Center for the Circulation of Rights to Creative Results More. here

2020

Top 10 Russian inventions - Rospatent

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) in mid-February 2021 released a list of the main inventions of Russia in 2020.

In the field of information security, the agency called the main invention a new technology that allows detecting malicious smart bots (recognizing that actions are not committed by a person). The technology allows you to protect users from fraudsters, for example, in the banking sector. It is already used in some Russian banks.

According to Rospatent, the list of the best inventions includes a vaccine against tuberculosis - the development of the Gamaleya National Research Center. The drug has a double effect. It can be used not only for vaccinations and protection against infection, but also for the treatment of patients with tuberculosis, RIA Novosti reports.

The best inventions also included:

• several methods of obtaining modern materials, including a cheap and more environmentally friendly way to create solar cells based on perovskite minerals - calcium titanates;
• a new method of producing needle coke will help solve the problem of producing batteries for electric vehicles;
• a kit for detecting antigens of infectious diseases;
• method of determining coordinates of hydroacoustic radiation sources;
• technology for producing foamed polystyrene (building insulation), which will allow the production of building materials with additives that prevent ignition and independent combustion;
• automatic motion control system transport with heading stability function (conditional stabilizer);
• a method for recognizing specific structures in biological tissue;
• low-altitude antenna with wide operating frequency band and low interrelation between radiators.^[13]

Russia is in third place after the United States and China in terms of the number of patent applications for blockchain technologies

On February 17, 2021, the company "I-Teco" announced TAdviser that the intellectual property center "" Skolkovo completed the development of the patent landscape using the technology. blockchain Analysis and patent search among the array of patents and patent applications published in the world revealed 357 patent families in areas financial logistic and areas for the period 2006-2020. The project was implemented at the request of the company "," Ai-Teko Innovation Center as a continuation of the development of blockchain practice, which started in 2018.

• The United States and China are leading countries in the number of developments in this area and, accordingly, in the number of patent applications.
• Alibaba Group Holding LTD (China), Alibaba Group Service LTD (Hong Kong), Alipay Lab Singapore PTE LTD (Singapore), SAP SE (Germany) have the largest number of patent families in the selected array;
• Russia is in 3rd place in the number of patent applications filed between 2017 and 2020 using blockchain technology in both areas under investigation;
• Applicants from Russia, South Korea and France rarely apply outside their countries, unlike applicants from the United States, Europe and China, who seek to obtain security documents for their technical solutions in a large number of jurisdictions around the world.

The customer of the study, the Ai-Teko Innovation Center, draws attention to two important aspects that the patent landscape of the Skolkovo CIS has revealed. First, the main research and patents are not concentrated in Russia; secondly, most of the Russian patents are owned by foreign companies, such as Alibaba Group Holding LTD (China), which transfer their international and national applications to Russian territory, and this is a serious argument for increasing attention from Russian players.

There is still very little time - literally 2-3 years, and the main players in the international and local markets on the use of blockchain technology will be determined. It is extremely interesting to participate in a paradigm shift and, together with other companies, look for answers to questions about how financial institutions will change, how the use of technology will affect the global financial industry, key players and cash flows, whether ordinary people will be able to release their cryptocurrency and much more. notes the deputy general director of I-Teco Innovation Center Natalya Dybko.

More than half of patent families fall on the direction "The use of blockchain technology in the financial sphere (payment systems with digital currency, smart contracts)." The growth of the number of patent documents has been noted here since 2014, strong growth began in 2018.

Given that not all patent applications filed in 2019-2020 for February 2021 have been published, it can be assumed that the dynamics of patent applications in the field under investigation will further increase, comments on the managing partner of the CIS Anton Pushkov.

In October 2020, PayPal announced that it would add support for cryptocurrencies, and this would allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC), as well as store them on a built-in wallet.

According to Natalia Dybko, Deputy General Director of the I-Teco Innovation Center, it was this day that became a turning point for the entire market, when blockchain technology from the marginal went into practical use. Similar to PayPal, the company Visa has been rapidly growing its blockchain portfolio of projects and patents in recent years. And if Visa's investment in 2019 in blockchain Anchorage startup , which provides secure storage services for cryptocurrencies, went unnoticed for many, then the news on February 3, 2021 about Visa's planned launch integrated with a system banks API for buying cryptocurrencies based on Anchorage developments has already caused a significant resonance in the expert community.

The hype stage and the valley of disappointment have been passed. Progressive states and businesses are beginning concrete steps to take advantage of decentralization or digital entities such as, tokens and smart contracts, Pavel Novikov, Director of the Center for Innovation in the Financial Sector of the Skolkovo Foundation, is sure.

He draws attention to three events that happened after the announcement of Paypal and which indicate the concentration of capital and attention to the topic of digital assets from leading world and Russian players. In February 2021, the bitcoin rate took a record mark of $50,000; in Russia, the law on digital financial assets and digital currency came into force, and Sberbank filed an application with the Central Bank to register a blockchain platform for issuing its own digital currency - savings.

The total number of patents issued in the United States decreased by 1% to 353,708

On January 13, 2021, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services published the annual top 50 global innovation companies and top 10 countries that have secured intellectual property rights in the jurisdiction of the United States of America. The researchers also talked about the fastest growing technologies. Read more here.

Russia entered the top ten countries in the number of patents worldwide

Russia entered the top ten countries in the number of patents worldwide. This is evidenced by IFI Claims Patent Services data for 2020.

Russian companies and inventors in 2020 published 56.8 thousand patents. This achievement can be considered the result of the actions of the state and development institutions, Natalia Polyakova, director of the legal directorate of the Russian venture capital company, told Kommersant.

Unfortunately, our practice of attracting financing for a patent is not very developed, while in the West a patent is considered a liquid asset and an investor is being sought for its registration, "said Dmitry Katalevsky, director of the Skoltech industrial programs department.

According to Natalia Polyakova, in order to develop the patent direction, as, for example, in China, Russia needs to organize material support for copyright holders by subsidizing the patenting process. But given the political situation, it may make sense for copyright holders from Russia to concentrate on the markets of African and Asian countries as the most promising in terms of competition and production development, she said.

According to IFI Claims Patent Services, the first place in terms of the number of registered patents around the world in 2020 was occupied by more Samsung Electronics than 80.6 thousand documents. Next are 38.5 IBM Canon and 36.2 thousand patents. The fourth position went Microsoft (30 thousand), the fifth - (28.2 Bosch thousand).

As explained in the study, when compiling the rating, patents registered including subsidiaries were taken into account. For example, Samsung has 155 such "daughters." Moreover, if the same patent application filed in different countries refers to the same invention, it is counted once.^[14][15]

Patents in Russia can be obtained electronically

On June 23, 2020, the State Duma adopted in the second - mainly - reading a bill on the issuance of patents in electronic form. At the same time, paper documents will remain.

Amendments to the Civil Code were developed by Rospatent within the framework of the Digital Economy program. The bill proposes to translate into electronic form certificates of registration of the topology of an integrated circuit, computer programs, databases, trademarks and names of origin of goods.

In addition, the application to Rospatent can be supplemented with a three-dimensional model of the object in electronic form. Previously, the Civil Code provided for only two-dimensional models, that is, schemes and drawings.

STEP will be used as the basic internal file format for 3D models due to the elaboration of its international standard. The models will be used by Rospatent exclusively for examination.

The characteristics and requirements for the formats of three-dimensional models will be established by the Ministry of Economic Development, which regulates the provision of registration services by Rospatent.

When applying for a patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design, for state registration of a trademark, provide the applicant with the opportunity to attach three-dimensional models of the claimed intellectual property objects in electronic form to the application materials, the explanatory note to the document says.

As specified in the bill, issuing security documents, with the exception of a patent for a secret invention, will be in electronic form, but at the same time it remains possible for the applicant to obtain them at will on paper.

As the TASS Information Agency of Russia notes, by the second reading, the bill was supplemented with an amendment that provides for the possibility of interpreting models and formulas through their three-dimensional or electronic analogues.^[16]

2019

China beats US for first time in AI patents

At the end of November 2020, it became known that China became the world leader in filing applications for patents for artificial intelligence, overtaking the United States for the first time. The development strengthens China's position as the second-largest AI market amid Beijing's technology and trade war with Washington.

Li Yuxiao, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Research, drew attention to the achievement of the PRC as part of his participation at the 7th World Internet Conference (WIC). China filed more than 110,000 patent applications in 2019, ahead of the U.S. in the number of such applications worldwide, Li said.

China is strengthening its independence and technological capabilities in information technology, "Li said, without specifying the exact number of AI patents filed by the U.S. in 2019.

Both China and the United States see the potential of artificial intelligence technology in improving the efficiency of their economies, including in industries such as manufacturing, transport and logistics, health care and education.

According to the research company iiMedia, in 2019, the video surveillance sphere turned out to be the most active user of AI technologies in China, accounting for 53.8% of all AI-based applications. In second place is the financial industry (15.8%,) marketing activities (11.6%) and transport (4.2%).

According to Yuxiao, the development of the IT industry in China has always adhered to the concept of "people-centered," which allowed the population to use visible, affordable and easy-to-use services in various industries, especially in the fields of education, health care and culture.

China, which is set to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, will still need to address some issues, notably the fuzziness of AI technology scenarios, high investment, and security and ethics issues.^[17]

Top 10 countries for new patents

At the end of April 2020, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ranked countries by the number of new patents.

Experts estimate a total of 265,800 patent applications were filed worldwide in 2019, up 5.2% from a year earlier. China came out on top for the first time, ahead of the United States, which has held the lead for more than four decades. The whole list looks like this:

• China (58,990 patents);
• UNITED STATES (57,840);
• Japan (52,660);
• Germany (19,353);
• South Korea (19,085);
• France (7 934);
• Britain (5 786);
• Switzerland (4,610);
• Sweden (4,185);
• Holland (4,011).

The rapid growth of China, which has become the main country for patent registration through WIPO, indicates a long-term shift in innovation towards the east. Inventors from Asia now account for the most patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty system, "said WIPO CEO Francis Gurry.

According to the study, Asian countries accounted for about 52.4% of all documents filed for patent registration. Shares of Europe and North America were less than 25% in each of the regions.

Experts especially noted Japan, one of the leading countries in the field of scientific research, such as high technology, biomedicine and robotics. The national R&D budget is $130 billion, and almost 700 thousand scientists are involved in research.

As for the leaders in patents among companies, Huawei again won first place in 2019, which submitted 4411 applications. The second place in the list was given to Mitsubishi Electric (2661 patent applications), and the third - Samsung Electronics (2334 applications). The fourth and fifth were taken, respectively, by Qualcomm (2127) and Guang Dong Oppo Mobile Telecom (1927).^[18]

WIPO: Innovation is increasingly the result of collective efforts

The WIPO World Intellectual Property Report 2019 analyzed millions of patents and scientific publications over a period of several decades and concluded from this analysis that innovation is increasingly the result of collective efforts and extends beyond national borders, while emerging in several large clusters located in a small number of countries. This was announced on November 13, 2019 by WIPO.

In 2015-2017, 69 percent of patents and 48 percent of scientific papers were from 30 metropolitan centers. These metropolitan areas are mainly located in 5 countries: China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America (USA).

As the analysis shows, innovation is increasingly the result of joint efforts. In the early 2000s, research teams accounted for 64 percent of all scientific publications, and joint inventor projects accounted for 54 percent of patents. By the second half of the 2010s, these indicators approached 88 and 68 percent, respectively.

In addition, cooperation has acquired a more pronounced international character. The share of joint scientific projects involving two or more researchers located in different countries increased from 15 percent in

1998 to 26 in 2017. If we talk about patents, the share of joint international inventions increased to 11 percent by 2009, but since then it has slightly decreased, partly due to the rapidly increasing number of domestic joint projects in a number of countries. Most joint international projects are implemented in the leading metropolitan centers. The top ten such centers San Francisco -,,,,,,,, Bengaluru and San Jose New York Frankfurt Tokyo Boston Shanghai London Beijing- Paris account for 26 percent of all international joint inventions.

U.S. centers have the most extensive network of partners in the world.

The modern innovation landscape is closely interrelated at the global level. Increasingly complex technological solutions to common global problems require increasingly large and highly specialized research teams based on international cooperation programs. It is important that countries remain open in the desire to develop innovations. stated by WIPO Director General Francis Harry

Key findings

The other key findings of the Report are as follows:

• Until 2000, about 90 percent of patents and more than 70 percent of scientific publications in the world were accounted for by Japan, the USA and Western Europe. In 2015-2017, these levels decreased to 70 and 50 percent, respectively, against the background of increased rates of corresponding activity in China, India, Israel, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, etc.
• Multinational companies localize their research work (R&D) in centers that have the potential in terms of specialized knowledge and skills. For example, Silicon Google Valley headquarters account for less than half of the company's patent activity, while other important sources of its inventive potential are concentrated in,, and Zurich. New York London
• Multinational companies from middle-income countries, such as Embraer and Infosys, often "get" innovation in the leading centers of high-income countries, but hardly take advantage of this opportunity in other middle-income countries.
• There are noticeable differences in the organization of scientific and inventive activities. Scientific activity is more widespread in the world. Universities and other research organizations located in many middle-income countries produce numerous academic publications, and often do so in conjunction with partners in the United States and Europe. However, these countries have relatively few patents. In general, international cooperation is more active in the sector of scientific publications than in the patent field.
• The rise of extremely successful innovation centers coincides with the growth of interregional polarization of income, employment of highly qualified personnel and wages within countries. And while these regional disparities are influenced by other factors, regional aid and development promotion measures can play an important role in supporting lagging regions.

See also

• Copyright on the Internet
• Computer law
• All-Russian Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Stop Online Piracy Act
• Software Licensing
• Pirated Software in Russia and the World (Unlicensed Software)

Notes