Of the places outside Portugal where Portuguese tend to apply for patents, China has been their third most-favoured since 2017, the intellectual property consulting firm Inventa International reports, citing data collected by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Inventa International says the data indicate that Portuguese applicants now favour China more than either Brazil or Japan.
The report says Portuguese made 368 patent applications in China between 2000 and 2018, and that a remarkable recent increase in such applications shows Portuguese inventiveness is spreading all over the world.
The number of Portuguese patents registered outside Portugal rose to almost 4,000 in 2018 from about 1,000 in 2004, the report says.
Given the cost of registering patents abroad, the increase reflects the quality of Portuguese inventions, Inventa International says.