Archive:Patent statistics

Graph 1: Patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO), EU-27 (number of applications)

Intellectual property rights and in particular patents provide a link between innovation, inventions and the marketplace. Applying for a patent makes an invention public, but at the same time gives it protection. A count of patents is one measure that reflects a country’s inventive activity and also shows its capacity to exploit knowledge and translate it into potential economic gains. In this context, indicators based on patent statistics are widely used to assess the inventive and innovative performance of a country.

Main statistical findings

Table 1: Patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) and patents granted by the USPTO

Patent applications to the EPO

EU-27 patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) increased significantly from 1995 to 2000 to reach 51 158, with the number of applications increasing, on average, by 11.6 % per annum. However, the steady upward trend then stagnated and there was little change in the number of applications through to another relative peak in 2004 (52 968 patent applications). The latest information available for 2005 showed a contraction in applications of 6.1 %, such that a total of 49 730 applications were made to the EPO.

Among the Member States, Germany had by far the highest number of patent applications to the EPO, some 22 219 in 2005 (which was 44.7 % of the EU-27 total). In relative terms, Germany was also the Member State with the highest number of patent applications per million inhabitants (269), followed by Finland (223) and Luxembourg (189).

EU-27 high-tech patent applications to the EPO represented an increasing share of total patent applications up until 2001 (when they accounted for 18.5 % of all applications). Their relative importance declined somewhat after this, as did their absolute number. From a high of 9 337 high-tech patent applications in 2001, there was a relatively slow reduction through to 2004, followed by a collapse in the number of high-tech applications in 2005, falling from 8 484 in 2004 to 3 192 a year later (-62.4 %). This pattern was observed across the majority of the Member States, in particular for the larger countries or in those countries with traditionally the highest propensity to make patent applications. Germany and Belgium registered the highest number of high-technology patent applications per million inhabitants in 2005, both just over 15, while Sweden and France were the only other Member States to record a ratio in double-digits. These figures were in stark contrast to those for the majority of the previous decade, when Finland and Sweden were clearly the most specialised countries.

Conference on Patent statistics for Decision Makers – Vienna – 7-8 October 2009

Flyer: Conference on Patent statistics for Decision Makers

A conference organised by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in co-operation with the DIME Network of Excellence, EPIP, EUROSTAT, JPO, NSF, USPTO and WIPO.

Patent data and patent statistics are one important way of measuring innovation and science and technology-related activities, but they can also reveal important information about the patent system and its performance.

The goal of this conference is to discuss advances in the analysis of patent information in the context of the current economic landscape, and in light of changes within the patent system and its use by applicants. The conference aims to bring together the latest thinking on issues relevant to companies and policy-makers. In particular, the conference will emphasize how patent data can be used in decision-making about R&D investments, in assessing the competitive environment of certain technologies and in formulating policy reform for the system in order to adapt it to a changing economic environment.

Venue

Austria Trend Hotel Savoyen Rennweg 16 1030 Vienna Austria

Information: http://www.epo.org/about-us/events/patstat.html

Data sources and availability

Following changes in the production of patent statistics at Eurostat in 2007, data shown on the Eurostat website are no longer fully comparable with data previously disseminated. From 2007 onwards, Eurostat’s production of European Patent Office (EPO) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) data has been based almost exclusively on the EPO Worldwide Statistical Patent Database. The worldwide statistical patent database, also known as ’PATSTAT’, was developed by the EPO in 2005, using their collection and knowledge of patent data. Patent data in this section are provided by the European Patent Office (EPO), while data for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are provided by the OECD.

European patent applications refer to applications filed directly under the European Patent Convention or to applications filed under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) and designated to the EPO (Euro-PCT), regardless of whether the patents are granted or not. For patent applications to the EPO all direct applications (EPO-direct) are taken into account, but among the PCT applications (applications following the procedure laid down by the PCT) made to the EPO, only those that have entered into the regional phase are counted. Patent applications are counted according to the priority date, i.e. the year in which they were filed anywhere in the world at the EPO and are broken down according to the International patent classification (IPC). Applications are assigned to a country according to the inventor’s place of residence, using fractional counting if there are multiple inventors to avoid double counting. To normalise the data, the total number of applications at the EPO can be divided by the national population and expressed in terms of patent applications per million inhabitants.

High-technology patents are counted following the criteria established by the trilateral statistical report, where the subsequent technical fields are defined as high technology groups in accordance to the International patent classification (IPC): computer and automated business equipment; micro-organism and genetic engineering; aviation; communication technology; semiconductors; and lasers.

The European Patent Office (EPO) grants European patents for the contracting states to the European Patent Convention (EPC). There are currently 32 of these; the EU-27 Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Monaco and Turkey. The falling trend between 2000 and 2005 is linked to the length of patenting procedures and should not be understood as a real decline in the patenting activity. For this reason the 2005 figures in Eurostat’s reference database are flagged as provisional. In contrast, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) data refers to patents granted and data are recorded by year of publication as opposed to the year of filing. Patents are allocated to the country of the inventor, using fractional counting in the case of multiple inventor countries. The methodology used is not harmonised with that of Eurostat and therefore the comparison between EPO and USPTO patents data should be interpreted with caution.

Context

Patents are generally used to protect R & D results, but they are also significant as a source of technical information, which may prevent re-inventing and re-developing ideas because of a lack of information. However, the use of patents is relatively restricted within the EU – this may be for a number of reasons including: their relative cost; the overlap between national and European procedures; or the need for translation into foreign languages.

Most studies in this area show that innovative enterprises tend to make more use of intellectual property protection than companies that do not innovate. Enterprise size and the economic sector in which an enterprise operates are also likely to play an important role in determining whether an enterprise chooses to protect its intellectual property.

The European Council held in Lisbon in March 2000 called for the creation of a Community patent system to address shortcomings in the legal protection of inventions, while providing an incentive for investments in research and development and contributing to the competitiveness of the economy as a whole. In July 2000 the European Commission made a first proposal for the creation of a Community patent. This was discussed at various levels and despite various proposals and amendments for a Council Regulation on the Community patent during 2003 and 2004 no legal basis was forthcoming. In April 2007 the European Commission released a Communication ’Enhancing the patent system in Europe’. It highlights that the European patent system is more expensive, uncertain and unattractive, while underlining that the European Commission believes a more competitive and attractive Community patent system can be achieved, based upon the creation of a unified and specialised patent judiciary, with competence for litigation on European patents and future Community patents.