Dow Jones Newsires | The U.N. says the number of international patent filings dropped last
year for the first time since 1978 as companies hit by the global
economic downturn sought fewer new protections on their intellectual
property.

The World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, says it received about 155,900 international patent filings in 2009.

This is 4.5 percent fewer than the nearly 164,000 filings it received the previous year.

Geneva-based WIPO said Monday that inventors in the United States still registered the highest number of international patents, despite an 11 percent drop.

Third-ranked Germany saw its patent filings drop by a similar amount.

Japan (2nd), South Korea (4th) and China (5th) all increased the number of patents filed at WIPO.