China Poised to Lead World in Patent Filings

China Poised to Lead World in Patent Filings

Having passed Germany (exports), Japan (gross domestic product) and the United States (auto sales) over the past year, China is now poised to lead the world in yet another category: patent application filings.

A new study released this week by Thomson Reuters says that by 2011 China will likely pass the United States and Japan in new patent applications.

[...] the growth of patent filings in Japan and the United States is slowing, while Chinese patent filings are surging in categories as varied as natural products and polymers and digital computers.

One reason to be bearish on Harley Davidson (HOG), Winnebago (WGO), and MGM Resorts (MGM) is that the baby boomer generation allowed the United States to be cannibalized by China.

I like to ask - with respect to any prospective long idea - whether a Chinese peasant could afford to buy its products.