UK Companies File More European Patents in 2014

BRUSSELS and MUNICH, February 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

• Patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) reach all-time high in 2014 
• UK filings increase by 4.8% compared to 1.2% average growth across Europe 
• Strongest growth from the UK since 2011 
• UK No. 9 globally at the EPO with 2% share of total patent filings  
• Samsung is no.1 applicant at the EPO; Unilever, Rolls Royce and British Telecom top three British companies  
• EPO President Benoît Battistelli: "Europe continues to strengthen its position as a global hub of technology and innovation"      

Patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) grew by 3.1% in 2014, hitting a new record high of over 274 000. Companies from the UK filed 6 823 patents at the EPO last year (2013: 6 510): with +4.8% the highest growth rate for the UK since 2011, and well above the 1.2% average increase of the 38 EPO member states. (Fig: Growth of patent filings at the EPO )

"Demand for patent protection in Europe has been growing steadily, and is up for the fifth year in a row," says EPO President Benoȋt Battistelli. "Europe continues to strengthen its key role as a global hub of technology and innovation for a growing number of companies from around the world. The rise in patent filings originating from Europe underlines the importance of patent-intensive industries as a solid base for the European knowledge economy: they foster Europe's competitiveness, economic strength and employment."

Shifts in leading fields of technology 

The leading fields of technology (sectors in which most patents are filed) for European patent applications from the UK in 2014 were: Electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (7% of all UK filings), Measurement (6%), Medical technology (6%), Transport (6%), Organic fine chemistry (5%), Digital communications (5%), Engines, pumps and turbines (5%), Biotechnology (4%) and Pharmaceuticals (4%).

Within these leading fields there were some major shifts: Electrical machinery grew by 14%, Digital communications by 23%, Engines, pumps and turbines by 17%, whereas Organic fine chemistry decreased by 11% and Pharmaceuticals by 8%.

Unilever, Rolls Royce, British Telecom: top three UK patent applicants 

Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever was still the UK's most active patent applicant at the EPO in 2014 with 226 applications (a drop of -19% over 2013), plus another 167 applications filed from the Netherlands making it No. 5 in that country. Rolls Royce moved up to 2nd place (182 applications, +37%), followed by British Telecom in 3^rd (141) and BAE Systems in 4^th (96), down from 2^nd last year. Tata jumped from 9^th to 6^th, Dyson from 10^th to 8^th, and the University of Oxford from 14^th to 9^th, whereas Glaxo Smith Kline dropped from 8^th to 13^th. (Fig: Largest UK applicants at the EPO in 2014 )

Looking at European patent applications per million inhabitants, the UK, with 74 applications/million inhabitants, ranked 16^th, just behind the US and Norway and ahead of Singapore, but below the EU-28 average of 131 applications/million inhabitants. (Fig: Applications per million inhabitants )

Regional differences in Europe, strong growth from China and US 

The 1.2% growth in the volume of filings from the 38 EPO member states in 2014 was based on varied trends in individual countries. Besides the UK, other countries with a strong growth in filings compared to the previous year were the Netherlands (+9.1%) and France (+4%). Stable developments were noted from Belgium (+1.8%), Italy (+0.5%), and Germany (-0.8%), while there was a drop in the number of filings from Finland (-9.3%), Switzerland (-3.1%) and Spain (-2.1%). Filings from the US grew significantly in 2014, by 6.8% over the previous year. With an increase of 18.2% China continued its spectacular rise in filings. Korea maintained its growth, albeit at a much slower rate (+2.3%), in contrast to Japan which - in spite of a high volume of filings - showed a decrease of -4.4%. (Fig: Top 50 countries of origin )

Samsung still no.1, five European companies make the Top 10 

European companies maintained their strong presence among the top 10 in terms of applications filed at the EPO in 2014, with no less than five firms represented. Philips advanced to 2nd in the list, followed by Siemens (3rd), BASF (6th), Robert Bosch (8th) and Ericsson (9th). Samsung once again headed the ranking with 2 541 applications in 2014. Another Korean company, LG, was 4^th. With Huawei in 5^th, a Chinese company entered the EPO's top 10 for the second time ever (ZTE was 10^th in 2012). The US firms Qualcomm (7th) and Intel (10th) rounded out the list. (Fig: Top 10 applicants )

Contrary to expectations that the EPO is predominantly used by large corporations, a breakdown by category of applicants shows that 30% of applications in 2014 came from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This underlines the important role the EPO plays as a service provider for smaller entities. Some 6% of the applications were filed by universities or research institutes, and 64% came from large firms.

For detailed statistics, and a report on activities in 2014, see the EPO's online annual report at: http://www.epo.org/annual-report2014 

About the EPO 

With more than 7 000 staff, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Its headquarters are in Munich and it also has offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna. The EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation on patents in Europe. Through the EPO's centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain high-quality patent protection in the 38 member states of the European Patent Organisation. The EPO is also the world's leading authority in patent information and patent searching.

Press contacts:

European Patent Office
Jeremy Philpott
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Tel: +49-89-2399-1805
Mobile: +49-151-54404109
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Shepard Fox Communications
Maria Diviney
Tel: +44-2033-184491
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SOURCE The European Patent Office (EPO)