India is significantly behind China when it comes to filing
patents. China applied for nearly eight times as many
intellectual property right patents as India last year. Those
numbers break down to 6089 from China and 766 from India,
according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
January report, "Global Economic Slowdown Impacts 2008
International Patent Filings." Compare these with the United
States' 53,521 applications in 2008, Japan's 28,744, or
Germany's 18,428. But there is a silver lining for innovation in
India. Among developing nations, WIPO reports that India ranks
third place when it comes to patents, behind the Republic of
Korea (7908), and China. WIPO notes that most countries filed
fewer patents in 2008 than in previous years, with the global
economic downturn as the likely primary culprit. "Historically,
patent filings tend to dip during periods of economic difficulty
simply because fewer resources are available for investment in
the innovation cycle," said WIPO Director-Genera