A recent report [1] from the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) reveals a significant increase in the number of patent filings originating from China, India and the Republic of Korea between 2000 and 2006. This activity is driving a global increase of 4.9 per cent in patent activity (for all industry sectors). The average annual increase of patent activity in these countries was far above that of all reported European and North American countries. Patent offices in other emerging countries, such as Brazil and Mexico, also noted increased levels of activity.

India was identified as a leader in patenting activity in the pharmaceutical sector – they ranked first in a global index which measures a country’s R&D strength in a particular field of technology. The Relative Specialization Index (RSI) is a population-adjusted index which compares the number of patents originating from a given country (and filed in at least one overseas market) in a specific technology to the total number of patents in all areas.