The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced a new record in
the number of received patent filings. In 2000, the EPO received a
total of 142,940 patent applications, 16% more than in the previous
year. This means that annual filing figures have more than doubled
in the last ten years, with an almost five-fold increase over the
total anticipated when the EPO was first set up.
Last year’s figures show that 28% of applications came from the
USA and 17% from Japan. Within Europe, the highest number of
applications came from Germany (20%), followed by France (6.7%),
the Netherlands (4.4%) and the UK (4.3%).
The largest number of applications related to electronic
communications (9.3%), medical technology (8.8%), electrical
components (7%) and data processing (5%), with just under 22% of
the applications filed in 2000 concerning subject matter in
high-tech fields.
Most of the applications received by the EPO were filed as
international applications under the Patent Co-operation Treaty
(PCT), which enables patent applications to be filed simultaneously
in over 100 countries.
The report also showed that the time taken to grant a patent has
increased since 1999, from an average of 46 months to an average of
49 from application to grant.
