- International families
- 1,1502015 to 2024
- Leading country
- China1.8× the next
- All families
- 3,428home filings included
- Over five years
- Steady2020 to 2024 against the five before
Year by year
Patent families by country of origin and the year of the earliest filing, 2000 to 2025; 2025 is a part year, still filling in. International families are those for which protection was sought beyond one country.
Volume
International patent families in the capability, by the year of the earliest filing.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Share by country
Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the capability's five largest countries of origin, 2015 to 2024, and the rest of the world.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Country leaderboard
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin. Growth compares the latest five full years with the five before.
Ten largest
China
United States
Japan
Germany
South Korea
France
United Kingdom
Canada
Netherlands
Italy
418
233
115
64
57
54
37
20
19
13
| 2000 to 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 418 | 36.3% | 0.9× | 2,002 | |
| 2 | United States | 233 | 20.3% | 0.7× | 387 | |
| 3 | Japan | 115 | 10.0% | 1.3× | 153 | |
| 4 | Germany | 64 | 5.6% | 1.4× | 76 | |
| 5 | South Korea | 57 | 5.0% | 2.0× | 471 | |
| 6 | France | 54 | 4.7% | 1.5× | 67 | |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 37 | 3.2% | 0.9× | 45 | |
| 8 | Canada | 20 | 1.7% | 0.5× | 25 | |
| 9 | Netherlands | 19 | 1.7% | 0.7× | 19 | |
| 10 | Italy | 13 | 1.1% | 0.9× | 15 | |
| 11 | Singapore | 12 | 1.0% | 2.0× | 12 | |
| 12 | Denmark | 11 | 1.0% | 1.8× | 11 | |
| 13 | Switzerland | 10 | 0.9% | 1.5× | 12 | |
| 14 | Israel | 9 | 0.8% | 0.8× | 12 | |
| 15 | Australia | 8 | 0.7% | 1.7× | 8 | |
| 16 | Finland | 7 | 0.6% | 1.3× | 7 | |
| 17 | Sweden | 6 | 0.5% | 1.0× | 6 | |
| 18 | Belgium | 5 | 0.4% | 1.5× | 5 | |
| 19 | Taiwan | 4 | 0.3% | 1.0× | 5 | |
| 20 | Austria | 4 | 0.3% | – | 4 | |
| 21 | Spain | 4 | 0.3% | 1.0× | 6 | |
| 22 | Malaysia | 4 | 0.3% | 3.0× | 6 | |
| 23 | India | 3 | 0.3% | 2.0× | 4 | |
| 24 | Türkiye | 3 | 0.3% | 2.0× | 7 | |
| 25 | South Africa | 3 | 0.3% | 0.5× | 3 | |
| 26 | Russia | 2 | 0.2% | 0.0× | 9 | |
| 27 | Hong Kong | 2 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 2 | |
| 28 | Saudi Arabia | 2 | 0.2% | 0.0× | 4 | |
| 29 | Cayman Islands | 2 | 0.2% | 1.0× | 3 | |
| 30 | Norway | 1 | 0.1% | – | 1 | |
| 31 | Hungary | 1 | 0.1% | 0.0× | 2 | |
| 32 | Ireland | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1 | |
| 33 | Brazil | 0 | 0.0% | – | 2 | |
| 34 | Poland | 0 | 0.0% | – | 7 |
Applicants
The largest applicants by international patent families, 2015 to 2024: across the world, then within each of the five countries with the most families in Customs & Border Management. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.
Global
1,150 international families
NUCTECH CO LTD · China
UNIV TSINGHUA · China
NUCTECH CO LIMITED · China
SMITHS DETECTION FRANCE S A S · France
NUCTECH BEIJING COMPANY LTD · China
ISHIDA SEISAKUSHO · Japan
315
157
59
32
26
24
China
418 international families
NUCTECH CO LTD
UNIV TSINGHUA
NUCTECH CO LIMITED
NUCTECH BEIJING COMPANY LTD
SAME PARTY WEIVISION TECH CO LTD
SHENZHEN XPECTVISION TECH CO LTD
315
157
59
26
21
18
United States
233 international families
SMITHS DETECTION INC
VIKEN DETECTION CORP
RAPISCAN HOLDINGS INC
RAPISCAN SYSTEMS INC
ANALOGIC CORP
HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC
14
14
13
12
8
8
Japan
115 international families
ISHIDA SEISAKUSHO
NEC CORP
CANON KK
TOSHIBA CORP
TOSHIBA KK
NTT INC
24
8
6
6
6
5
Germany
64 international families
SMITHS DETECTION GERMANY GMBH
SMITHS HEIMANN GMBH
ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GMBH
THYSSENKRUPP AG
SIEMENS HEALTHCARE GMBH
GONZALEZ MARIN SARAY
15
9
8
8
5
3
South Korea
57 international families
COUPANG CORP
KOREA ATOMIC ENERGY RES
KOREA INST OCEAN SCI & TECH
AUTOWINI INC
ELECTRONICS & TELECOMMUNICATIONS RES INST
PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY SERVICE
7
3
3
2
2
2
Similar capabilities
The nine capabilities that share the most international patent families with Customs & Border Management, 2015 to 2024: the families counted in both as a share of those counted in either. Each card shows its five largest countries.
Governance & Integrity
Organised Crime & Illicit Economy Response
22.3% shared · 818 families in both
United States
Japan
China
Germany
France
744
596
588
394
135
Strategic Infrastructure
Logistics, Multimodal & Border Infrastructure
3.2% shared · 970 families in both
United States
Japan
China
Germany
South Korea
7,338
5,665
3,834
2,960
2,293
Strategic Infrastructure
Postal & Parcel
1.6% shared · 169 families in both
United States
Japan
China
South Korea
Germany
2,812
1,682
1,237
976
644
Strategic Infrastructure
Research & Scientific Facilities
1.4% shared · 60 families in both
United States
Japan
Germany
China
United Kingdom
964
589
405
369
209
Governance & Integrity
Digital Government & Service Delivery
0.9% shared · 54 families in both
China
United States
Japan
South Korea
India
1,145
1,011
885
814
100
Strategic Infrastructure
Government & Public Administration
0.8% shared · 55 families in both
United States
China
Japan
South Korea
Germany
1,294
1,225
1,062
878
391
Strategic Infrastructure
Air Infrastructure
0.5% shared · 25 families in both
United States
Japan
Germany
China
France
1,188
473
303
274
259
Trade & Investment
Maritime & Logistics Services
0.5% shared · 174 families in both
United States
Japan
China
Germany
South Korea
8,146
6,361
4,144
3,442
2,840
Financial Strength
Revenue Mobilisation & Tax Administration
0.5% shared · 12 families in both
United States
Japan
China
South Korea
Canada
529
216
207
74
45
Crosswalk
How Customs & Border Management is matched to the patent classifications. The entries below were chosen for it; each stands for itself and everything beneath it in the scheme, 14 Cooperative entries in all. A patent family counts when any of its codes, in either scheme and at any office, falls under one of them. Codes since retired are placed under the entries that replaced them.
| Entry | Title in the scheme | Why it is chosen | CPC codes | IPC codes | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G01V5/00 | Prospecting or detecting by the use of ionising radiation, e.g. of natural or induced radioactivity | Radiation scanning of cargo and baggage for prohibited goods | 25 | 6 | 28,972 |
| G06Q10/0831 | Overseas transactions | Shipping systems for overseas transactions | 1 | 1 | 2,472 |
| G01V5/02 | Prospecting or detecting by the use of ionising radiation, e.g. of natural or induced radioactivity specially adapted for surface logging, e.g. from aircraft | Left out | |||
| G01V5/04 | Prospecting or detecting by the use of ionising radiation, e.g. of natural or induced radioactivity specially adapted for well-logging | Left out |
CPC and IPC codes are the codes in use on patent documents, at any office, that fall under the entry. Documents is the larger of the two schemes' counts of documents carrying one of them. An entry with no IPC codes can be told apart only in the Cooperative scheme.
The Cooperative codes in use that count towards Customs & Border Management: 26 codes on 31,444 documents. The full crosswalk is in the cpc-to-capability.csv download.
| Code | Title | Under entry | How placed | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G01V5/22 | Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 6,815 |
| G01V5/20 | Detecting prohibited goods, e.g. weapons, explosives, hazardous substances, contraband or smuggled objects | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 3,974 |
| G01V5/226 | Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays using tomography | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 2,972 |
| G01V5/222 | Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays measuring scattered radiation | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 2,820 |
| G06Q10/0831 | Overseas transactions | G06Q10/0831 | In the scheme | 2,472 |
| G01V5/00 | Prospecting or detecting by the use of ionising radiation, e.g. of natural or induced radioactivity | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 2,042 |
| G01V5/224 | Multiple energy techniques using one type of radiation, e.g. X-rays of different energies | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 2,032 |
| G01V5/232 | Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays having relative motion between the source, detector and object other than by conveyor | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 1,598 |
| G01V5/26 | Passive interrogation, i.e. by measuring radiation emitted by objects or goods | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 1,147 |
| G01V5/281 | Detecting prohibited goods, e.g. weapons, explosives, hazardous substances, contraband or smuggled objects detecting special nuclear material [SNM], e.g. Uranium-235, Uranium-233 or Plutonium-239 | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 863 |
| G01V5/234 | Measuring induced radiation, e.g. thermal neutron activation analysis | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 700 |
| G01V5/223 | Mixed interrogation beams, e.g. using more than one type of radiation beam | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 694 |
| G01V5/271 | Detecting prohibited goods, e.g. weapons, explosives, hazardous substances, contraband or smuggled objects using a network, e.g. a remote expert, accessing remote data or the like | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 645 |
| G01V5/0016 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 543 |
| G01V5/228 | Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays using stereoscopic means | G01V5/00 | In the scheme | 370 |
| G01V5/0008 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 366 |
| G01V5/005 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 282 |
| G01V5/0025 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 264 |
| G01V5/0041 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 256 |
| G01V5/0066 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 203 |
| G01V5/0091 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 112 |
| G01V5/0075 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 84 |
| G01V5/0033 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 78 |
| G01V5/0083 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 63 |
| G01V5/0058 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 28 |
| G01V5/0069 | Retired code | G01V5/00 | Retired, by main group | 21 |