European Patent Office – Annual report 2015
Last week the EPO published its annual report. The report shows that Philips moved into the top spot in the list of companies with the most patent applications at the EPO in 2015. Samsung ranked second, followed by LG, Huawei and Siemens. The top 10 was made up of four companies from Europe, three from the US, two from South Korea and one from China.
Almost half of all European patent applications came from the EPO member states, followed by the US, Japan, South Korea and China. Applications from Europe grew modestly overall, with marked differences among the larger economies. The most significant growth came from Italy, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. France grew moderately, while Germany and some of the Nordic countries filed fewer applications. The US and China were the main drivers of growth for applications. Growth from South Korea was moderate and Japanese companies filed fewer applications.
You may read the entire annual report here.