Last year, the European Patent Office granted 96,000 patents, more than ever before. With 7,293 Patent Applications, Switzerland ranks fifth in an international comparison. However, Switzerland remains in first place in terms of the number of Applications per inhabitant. Filings of Patent Applications per inhabitant in Switzerland are around seven times higher than the average for an EU country.
The European Patent Office (EPO) published 96,000 granted Patents in 2016. According to the EPO, this is a record figure in the history of the office and represents an increase of 40% compared to the previous year.
Not only was a record number of patents granted in 2016, but the number of patent searches, substantive examination and Opposition Proceedings carried out by patent examiners also rose by 8.5% to a record level of 396,000. According to the President of the EPO, Mr. Benôit Battistelli, this is the result of reforms within the Office over the past five years. This brings the politically motivated goal of creating legal certainty for all stakeholders as early as possible within reach.
While Belgium, with growth of 7%, and Italy, with an increase of 4.5% compared to last year, lead the growth statistics for Patent Applications in 2016, Switzerland is still in fifth place worldwide with 7,293 patent applications. On the other hand, Switzerland is by far in first place when it comes to Patent Applications in relation to the number of inhabitants. An impressive 891.6 Patent Applications per 1 million inhabitants were filed with the EPO in 2016. The Netherlands, in second place, did not even reach half that number. The average for the 28 EU states is 122 applications per million inhabitants.
The EPO provides statistics per country that allow a detailed evaluation of the applications filed. For example, it can be determined from which technical fields the most Patent Applications are filed. “Measurement technology” with 677, “Medical technology” with almost 600 and “Handling” with 534 Patent Applications occupy the top three places for applications from Switzerland. According to the statistics, the fields of organic Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology are also important.
The companies from Switzerland that filed the most Patent Applications in 2016 were the large corporations Hoffmann La Roche, ABB, Nestlé and Novartis.
However, not only the EPO but also the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which provides a centralized filing procedure for international patent applications, recorded a record number of international patent applications in 2016. A total of 233,000 international applications were filed with WIPO.
“The 2016 results underline Europe’s role as an attractive and world-leading location for innovation,” explains EPO President Battistelli. In view of the record level of international applications, it should be added that patent protection is also of great importance to companies outside Europe.