The European Patent Office recently released statistics relating to the number of European patent filings over the last 10 years. An analysis of these shows just how significant the changes are in relation to subject matter and countries of origin, in particular the emergence of China as a technological superpower.
Looking firstly at technical field, as shown in Figure 1, there has been a significant rise in the number of patent filings (both direct European and European national phase of International PCT applications) for medical technology, with nearly double the number of filings in 2010 as 2001. This is a clear sign of the increasing importance placed on medical technology, including products to diagnose, monitor and treat diseases, by industry and universities, which can clearly be welcomed. Medical technology is in fact now the largest technical field for patent filings in Europe, overtaking computer technology which was the largest field in 2001.
There has also been a marked increase in the number of filings in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and organic fine chemistry, with these remaining the top three fields within the chemical sector.
Digital communications has seen a steady and significant increase each year since 2001, with the number of patent filings in 2010 being more than double that in 2001. Telecommunications, has, on the other hand, seen a significant fall and now lags behind digital communications. This mirrors the technical developments over the last decade which have seen major improvements in digital TV, digital radio, wireless technology and mobile communications.
So, from where do the applicants of these patent applications originate, i.e. where is the new technology being developed? The major players from 2001: US, Germany, Japan, France, Netherlands, UK and Switzerland, remain the top 7 filers of European patent applications and European phases of PCT applications in 2010 (see Figure 2, US, Germany and Japan have been omitted for clarity, since their numbers of filings are, and remain, particularly large). However, the overall picture is changing. The increase in filings from these countries in 2010 over the number is 2001 is relatively small (13% for UK, 30% for US and only 9% for Japan), whereas the increase in filings coming from China and Korea has increased enormously - see Figure 3. In 2001, China was low on the list of filers for European patent applications, at number 22. In 2010, the number of filings originating from China had increased a huge 984% (going from 189 to 2049 applications), to put them 12th in the list. The number of filings from Korea in 2010 was 300% as many as in 2001. This reflects the huge industrial and commercial progress being made by these countries.
Significant increases in patent filings can also be seen from Eastern Europe, for example between 2001 and 2010 the number of filings increased 978% by Poland, 1252% by Turkey and 3200% by Latvia. However, despite these steep increases, these countries generally remain small players: in 2010, 205 applications originated from Poland and 284 from Turkey, versus 5402 from the UK, 2049 from China and 39519 from US.
Analysis of the numbers of European and International (PCT) patent applications designating Europe (in contrast with European and European phases of PCTs) yields a similar picture. Whilst the US, Germany and Japan remain the top 3 filers in the world in 2010, they are being rapidly caught up by China which is now the 4th largest filer in the world, with a 600% increase, up from being 21st in the world. Korea follows hot on their heals at number 5 (see Figure 4). The UK, on the other hand, has been pushed from number 6 to number 8 in the world and has in fact seen a small decrease of 1.5% in the number of applications filed, one of only four countries assessed to see a decrease.
Could this be an indication that the UK is losing its status as one of the world's top technology bases? Countries from the developing world such as China and Korea are certainly hot on our heels, but the UK still remains a major player, with consistently high numbers of patent filings over most technical fields. The UK is the 7th largest filer of European applications for medical technology and the 6th for both pharmaceuticals and organic fine chemistry, also filing large numbers of applications in the electrical engineering sector such as digital communications and computer technology.
The EPO has also published lists of the names of companies filing the largest number of European patent applications. Dehns are pleased to count their clients among the top 10 filers in various major fields such as computer technology, medical technology, digital communications, transport, telecommunications, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and organic fine chemistry. Many of Dehns' clients also feature in the list of the overall top 100 companies over all fields.
From the statistics, we can therefore see both a change in the major areas of technology for which patent applications are filed -- a trend away from telecommunications and towards digital communications, with medical technology being a huge growth area -- but also a change in the major players in the world of European patents. China and Korea have emerged as important technology developers who take their Intellectual Property seriously, whilst growth in the traditional technology bases including Japan, US, UK and Germany, slows. Only time will tell who will win the fight between the "old" and the "new" worlds.
