Amid generally uncertain global economic prospects, it is heartening to be able to report that intellectual property (IP) activity continues to grow robustly in most countries. This year’s edition of WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators reports global growth in patent and trademark filings in 2014 of 4.5% and 6.0%, respectively. China – more than ever – has been driving that growth. Fueled by filings from local residents, it saw patent applications increase by 12.5% and trademark applications rise by 18.2%. Most IP offices outside China also recorded growth in patent and trademark filings. In particular, patent applications increased by 3.2% at the European Patent Office, 2.8% in the Republic of Korea and 1.3% in the US. Among the largest offices, only Japan saw a drop (0.7%) in patent filings. Trademark filing activity increased markedly in Japan and India, with growth rates of 16.9% and 15.4%, respectively. The United States also saw strong growth of 6.7% and the European Union’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) registered growth of 2.7%.