Pharmaceutical company Novartis AG of Switzerland with 174 applications headed the list of top filers, followed by French personal care and cosmetics company L’Oréal (169), automotive company Daimler AG of Germany (129), technology company Apple Inc. of the U.S. (87) and consumer goods company Henkel AG of Germany (86). Novartis filed 78 more applications in 2018 than in 2017, taking it from fifth position to the top spot. Ranked third, Daimler moved up 33 places from 36th in 2017 and Henkel jumped from 30th spot to rank fifth.

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, August 2019.