Countries Comparison
Frequently, the question is asked, “Where should I patent?”
This is hardly ever an easy question to answer.
The links below each reveal a table which may be used as a rough guide only to assist in making a decision.
There may be economic, social, political or other reasons why a particular country is selected or not selected for patent protection.
Each table was constructed from a QuattroPro spreadsheet which ranks countries according to the following criteria:
Per capita wealth was calculated by dividing the GDP figures by the population, these figures having been obtained from the Encyclopędia Britannica Book of the Year for the relevant years, 2000 through to 2008.
The wealthiest and the poorest countries were determined according to the calculated per capita wealth.
Maximum and minimum “market penetration” values were assumed at 15% and 2% respectively.
A straight line regression was used to calculate the market penetration for each country based upon the calculated per capita wealth for each country.
The market penetration was multiplied by a “determinant” – for this table, population – to provide a “nominal market size”. Other “determinant” values may be used such as production or trade figures for specific products or product groupings.
The countries were ranked according to nominal market size using the spreadsheet data sorting facility.
Calculations were made for the major regional patenting entities by summing up the statistics for member countries and performing the same regression and “nominal market size” calculations.
The early spreadsheets were pasted into Frontpage 2000 for initial formatting, and the html code tidied up with Araneae 5.0.0. Later spreadsheets were pasted into Dreamweaver 11.5 and the code titied up. See Production Notes for more detail.
Colonial entities for which a national patent based upon a PCT application are indicated in the table as “effective”members by being shown in italics, but are not included in the tallies for the country with which the colonial entity is associated.
Membership of regional patenting entities is indicated in parenthesis after the country name and was used by the spreadsheet to include such countries in the statistical calculations for that region.
No political considerations have been given regarding what constitutes a “country”. In other parts of this website, I have used the term “geonym” to avoid contraversy, but in these tables, I have kept the terminology used in the source material. Each list (apart from the inclusion of regional patenting entities) was compiled from the comparative national statistics in the Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year for the relevant year using as far as practical the geonyms listed in the Encyclopędia Britannica statistical tables. Most, but not not all, of the geonyms are countries having independent sovereignty. Inclusion of a geonym should not necessarily be construed as support for its existence as a political entity, and likewise the exclusion of a geonym should not necessarily be construed as opposition to its existence as a political entity. Each Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year has a similar disclaimer concerning named geographical entities (geonyms).
“Araneae”, “Dreamweaver”, “Encyclopædia Britannica”, “Frontpage” and “QuattroPro” are trade marks belonging to their respective owners and are used here to indicate resource material only.
This page was updated on Thursday, 25 July 2013.
Copyright © 2008 Bill Anderson