A new report has revealed a strong increase in the number of global patent filings – further indication of positive investment in innovation activity.
The data is given in a new global report – the IP5 Statistics Report – published jointly by the European Patent Office (EPO); the Japan Patent Office (JPO); the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO); the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The report reveals that patent filings at the world’s five biggest intellectual property offices rose to 2.6 million in 2016, an increase of 10.4% on the previous year. Patent filings at the EPO remained on a par with the previous year - the majority originating in the EU, the US and Japan - and patent grants rose by 40%. The biggest increase in filing activity was reported by the SIPO, where the number of patent applications rose by 21.5% to over 1.3 million.
Karl Barnfather, chairman at intellectual property firm, Withers & Rogers, said: “It is good to see that global patent filings are climbing so strongly – a sign that businesses in Europe and elsewhere around the world are investing strongly in innovation and pursuing commercial opportunities in international markets.
“Innovators in the UK and other European countries are producing cutting-edge technologies for use in important sectors such as computer science, transport, electronic machinery and energy. The patent applications they make are helping them to leverage maximum commercial benefit from this investment through licensing deals and exclusivity rights.”
Commenting on the 40% increase in the number of patents granted at the EPO in 2016, he added:
“The EPO has been driving through its Quality and Efficiency Strategy and this is speeding up patent processing times. This is reassuring for innovators, many of whom are in a race to market and appreciate knowing as soon as possible that their intellectual property strategies are sound.”