PRA Launches the International Patent Index 2023
Jul 6, 2023
In our interconnected world intellectual property is all around us. Property is a creation of our brain with good commercial value, while inventions are intellectual property that can be protected by patents. A patent protects an invention that is novel, useful, non-obvious, and enabled.
This week Professor Walter Park of American University and Chrysa Kazakou of PRA presented the newly published 2023 International Patent Index. During 2022- 2023, Professor Walter Park and Chrysa Kazakou worked to compile the data for patent legislation from 142 countries. The index offers a useful tool for measuring the protection of patents around the world.
According to Professor Park, from the American University, “As the global economy undergoes transitions and as technologies, such as AI, become increasingly sophisticated, keeping track of developments in the IP regime is imperative. It helps mitigate the uncertainty faced by various stakeholders – consumers, businesses, and policymakers.”
As an overview, the International Patent Index (IPI) 2023 follows the methodology of the unweighted sum of six separate scores for coverage (inventions that are patentable), membership in international treaties, duration of protection (0 to 20 years), enforcement mechanisms, restrictions (for example, compulsory licensing if a patented invention is not sufficiently exploited) and patent applications.
Key Findings
The United States leads the IPI 2023 with a score of 6.3576 providing the necessary tools to effectively protect patents. Japan ranks 2nd in the IPI (5.9043), while Germany ranks 3rd with 5.3306. On the other end, Myanmar (1.32) and Fiji (1.28) have the lowest scores in the IPI.
The co-author of the index, Chrysa Kazakou, emphasized that “It is important to raise awareness of the value of intellectual property that describes in a very accurate way technologies. Entrepreneurs that work for new advances in innovation and technology transfer need the patents, as incentives to push for more creativity.”
You can download the International Patent Index 2023 here.