Where to get additional help Visit our website www.epo.org > Patent search at www.epo.org/espacenet > European Patent Register at www.epo.org/register > Online filing services at www.epo.org/online-services > Job vacancies at www.epo.org/jobs > Quick access to FAQs, publications, forms and tools at www.epo.org/service-support Facts and figures 2016 Key figures inside > Filings Applications at the EPO Top countries Top technology fields Top applicants Visit www.epo.org/contact to access > Contact forms to send enquiries by mail > Directions for getting to the EPO > Our postal addresses > Our switchboard numbers > Our Customer Services phone number Follow us on > www.facebook.com/europeanpatentoffice > www.twitter. com/epoorg > www.youtube.com/epofilms > www.linkedin.com/company/european-patent-office Laura van t Veer and team Winners of the European Inventor Award 2015 in the category SMEs The invention of researcher Laura van t Veer and her team at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) empowers women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to make informed decisions about whether or not to undergo chemotherapy after initial surgery. The team s genebased test, introduced in 2007, evaluates tumour tissue for the 10-year risk of cancer recurrence. www.epo.org 2 > Learn more about the European Inventor Award: www.epo.org/european-inventor
Key figures 2015 All statistics are based on the first-named applicant. Filings 1 265 918 274 367 278 867 Read more >>> More information on 2015 statistics at www.epo.org/statistics-indicators2015 Applications filed with the EPO 2 160 022 + 4.8 % in 2015 vs. 2014 Keep in touch with the latest developments Dagmar Bobkova, patent examiner + 1.6 % 2013 2014 2015 1 Direct European filings under the EPC and international filings under the PCT. Country Applications Change / 2014 1 USA 42 692 + 16.4 % 2 Germany 24 820 3.2 % 3 Japan 21 426 3.1 % 4 France 10 781 + 1.6 % 5 Netherlands 7 100 + 3.3 % 2 Based on European patent applications filed with the EPO in 2015 (direct European applications filed in 2015 and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase in 2015). Top technology fields 3 1 2 3 Medical technology + 11.0 % 12 474 Digital communication + 3.2 % 10 762 Computer technology + 7.8 % 10 549 3 Based on European patent applications filed with the EPO in 2015 (direct European applications filed in 2015 and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase in 2015). Top applicants 4 1 Philips + 3.7 % 2 Samsung 6.9 % 2 091 3 LG + 27.7 % 1 953 2 402 2 366 4 Huawei + 22.1 % 1 894 5 Siemens 11.2 % 4 Based on European patent applications filed with the EPO in 2015 (direct European applications filed in 2015 and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase in 2015). The EPO is recruiting engineers and scientists to work as patent examiners. If you have a degree in physics, chemistry, engineering or life sciences, and the required language skills in English, German and French, you too could become part of our team in Munich, The Hague or Berlin. Find out more and apply now at: www.epo.org/examiner-jobs www.facebook.com/epojobs twitter.com/epojobs
Dear readers, In today s global technology markets, companies increasingly seek patent protection for their innovations. Applications at the EPO grew by 4.8 % in 2015, reaching their highest ever level. To meet the growing demand, we have undertaken a number of reforms to modernise and increase efficiency, whilst maintaining our high-quality standards. These efforts paid off in 2015. EPO patent examiners delivered a record 365 000 products (e. g. searches and examinations), an increase of 14 % over 2014. We have also achieved a fully ISO 9001 certified end-toend patent grant process, from filing to publication. The attractiveness of the European patent system was further confirmed by the validation agreements with Morocco and Moldova. A European patent can now be validated in 42 countries, covering a market of some 650 million people. Europe will soon see the biggest reform of its patent system in decades when the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court enter into force. With the preparatory work completed, the EPO is ready to deliver the unitary patent. Once 13 countries ratify the agreement on the Court, the unitary patent system can come to life, and companies and inventors worldwide can start to benefit from the distinct advantages it will bring. Benoît Battistelli President 3
The European Patent Organisation Since 1973 the Organisation has grown to include 38 member states, two extension states and two validation states, covering an area with some 650 million inhabitants. Locations of the European Patent Office Member states (38) Albania Luxembourg Austria Malta Belgium Monaco Bulgaria Former Yugoslav Croatia Republic of Macedonia Cyprus Netherlands Czech Republic Norway Denmark Poland Estonia Portugal Finland Romania France San Marino Germany Serbia Greece Slovakia Hungary Slovenia Iceland Spain Ireland Sweden Italy Switzerland Latvia Turkey Liechtenstein United Kingdom Lithuania The Hague Berlin Brussels Munich Vienna Extension states (2) Bosnia-Herzegovina Montenegro Validation states (2) Morocco Republic of Moldova 4 5
The EPO at a glance As the patent office for Europe, the EPO supports innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through a commitment to high quality and efficient services delivered under the European Patent Convention (EPC). 1 > Structure The two organs of the European Patent Organisation are the Administrative Council, its legislative body, consisting of representatives from the contracting states and over seeing the activities and budget of the Office, and the European Patent Office, its executive arm in charge of examining European patent applications. > Patent protection in up to 42 countries The EPO provides protection for an invention in up to 40 European countries on the basis of a single application. Since the entry into force of agreements with Morocco and the Republic of Moldova in 2015, European patents can also be validated in these two countries. In the states for which it is granted, a European patent has the same legal effect as a national patent. > Three official languages English, French and German are the three official languages of the EPO. Patent applications may be filed in any of these languages. EPO headquarters in Munich > Staff Approximately 7 000 staff of over 30 different nationalities, the majority of whom are highly qualified scientists and engineers working as patent examiners in all fields of technology. > Locations Headquarters in Munich, with a branch at The Hague and offices in Berlin, Vienna and Brussels. > Budget The EPO is the second-largest European public service organisation. It is self-financing, covering all its operating and capital expenditure from the fees paid by users for its services. The 2016 budget is EUR 2 billion. 1 EPO mission statement 6 7
Our products and services Delivering high-quality products and efficient services is our number one priority. > State-of-the-art searches Search report and opinion on patentability The EPO provides a detailed search report, and a written opinion on an invention s patentability, within just a few months from filing. To do so, our examiners have access to the world s largest databases of patents, non-patent literature and other sources, comprising 1 billion records from over 100 countries, and including 40 million records from Asia. Thanks to the use of the most sophisticated classification system, translation and retrieval tools available, our search is truly global and highly reliable. International searches Companies seeking a global market can also file an international ( PCT ) application, choosing the EPO as their search authority. The EPO handles the largest proportion of PCT search requests of any patent office worldwide. > High-quality patents Rigorous search and examination of patent applications Every patent application is subject to a thorough search and rigorous examination procedure by an examining division, consisting of three trained experts specialised in the relevant technology. These procedures are based on a solid legal framework, and are subject to quality controls. Possibilities for review of decisions The EPO has a system of opposition and appeal proceedings allowing the review of its decisions to grant or refuse a patent. Some 5 % of our patents undergo an opposition procedure, which enables anyone to contest a European patent within 9 months from grant. This procedure establishes final clarity on the scope of protection of an invention and forms an important element of quality assurance in European patents. > Information on the latest technologies Centralised access to global patent data The EPO s public databases containing over 90 million patent documents with information about inventions and technical developments are one of the world s most abundant sources of information about technology. Search the database at www.epo.org/espacenet Translation of patent documents in one click Patent Translate, the EPO s free machine translation service, covers 32 languages. It enables automatic translation from and into English, French or German for 27 other European languages (covering all the EPO member states), plus from and into English for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian. More information at www.epo.org/patent-translate > Training and awareness-raising The European Patent Academy organises training for patent office staff and patent practitioners, and promotes IP awareness among academics and business advisers in the member states. A collection of free e-learning modules on a broad range of topics is available under www.epo.org/academy. 8 9
Highlights of 2015 2015 was a successful year for the EPO, with significant increases in production whilst maintaining highquality standards, internal reforms to make the Office fit for the future, progress on harmonising the patent process at global level, and decisive steps towards the unitary patent. > A record year for production Last year we achieved an unprecedented gain in performance: our 4 200 patent examiners delivered a record 365 000 products (e. g. searches and examinations), an increase of 14 % over 2014. At the same time, quality remains our top priority. We extended our ISO 9001 certification to cover the entire patent process and the EPO was again rated number one in terms of patent quality among the world s largest patent offices in a 2015 survey of patent professionals by IAM magazine. > Building our future To consolidate the positive results of 2015 and ensure sustainability in the long term, the EPO is investing in its future and further modernising its way of working. We continuously invest in IT tools and systems to support the work of our staff. More than 160 new colleagues were recruited last year (and close to 850 in the past five years), most of them highlyqualified scientists and engineers to work as patent examiners. A performance-based career system was successfully implemented. Construction work advanced well on our new building in The Hague, which will provide state-of-the-art facilities for our 2 600 staff in the Netherlands. > EPO on the global stage We continued to work with patent offices worldwide on simplifying and harmonising patenting procedures for the benefit of our users. The Global Dossier service now offers free file inspection straight from our website for patent applications filed with all of our IP 5 partners (China, Japan, South Korea and the US). We also celebrated 30 years of co-operation with China s State Intellectual Property Office a partnership that has become a pillar of the global patent system. > Unitary patent ready to go Europe moved forward on the unitary patent. Participating EU member states agreed on the fees and adopted a final package of rules, making the EPO legally and operationally ready to deliver the new patent. By the end of January 2016, nine countries had ratified the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court with more expected to do so soon. Once 13 countries ratify, both the Court and the unitary patent system can come to life, and businesses can benefit from the simplified administration and lower costs the unitary patent will bring. Read more >>> More information on highlights on www.epo.org/highlights2015 10 11
Statistics and trends in 2015 European patent applications reached the highest ever number in 2015. Much of the growth came from the US and China, but European firms also showed strong patenting activity in their home market. A closer look reveals some interesting differences in Europe. The figures also highlight that demand for European patents comes from all sectors of technology and all sizes and types of company not only large corporations, but also SMEs, research institutes and universities. > Filings 1 European patent filings, which are an indicator of the overall demand for patent protection, grew again in 2015 (+ 1.6 %) reaching a new high of nearly 279 000. > Applications filed with the EPO 2 Patent applications at the EPO also grew in 2015, to reach 160 000. This was an increase of 4.8 % over 2014, and the highest ever number. The total applications included close to 98 300 international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filings which entered the European regional phase (becoming European applications) in 2015, and some 61 700 European patent applications filed directly at the EPO under the European Patent Convention (EPC). Total European patent applications 2 160 000 150 000 140 000 142 822 148 562 148 027 152 703 160 022 + 4.8 % 130 000 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 1 Direct European filings under the EPC and international filings under the PCT. 2 Direct European applications and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase. Read more >>> More information on 2015 statistics at www.epo.org/statistics-indicators2015 13
> Origin of applications 1 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. In Europe, the most significant increases came from Italy, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. France grew moderately, while Germany and some of the Nordic countries filed fewer applications. Overall, the US and China were the main drivers of growth in applications at the EPO. Growth from South Korea was moderate and Japanese companies filed fewer applications. > Measuring inventiveness The inventiveness of Europe s leading economies is also reflected in the ratio of European patent applications to population. Switzerland (with 873 applications per million inhabitants), the Netherlands (419) and some of the Nordic countries topped the list again in 2015. Japan (169) was the first non-european country in the ranking with a ratio higher than the EU average (132), and also ahead of the US (133), South Korea (130) and China (4). Applications per million inhabitants in 2015 2 Country of origin European patent applications per country of origin in 2015 1 1 Switzerland 2 Netherlands 419 873 Others 5 % People s Republic of China 4 % Republic of Korea 4 % Germany 16 % 3 Sweden 4 Finland 5 Denmark 392 365 346 Japan 13 % France 7 % 6 Germany 7 Austria 307 230 Netherlands 4 % 8 Belgium 180 Switzerland 4 % 9 Japan 169 UK 3 % 10 France 162 USA 27 % Other EPO states 13 % 11 Israel 12 United States 13 Republic of Korea 137 133 130 14 Ireland 119 1 Direct European applications and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase. Note: statistics are based on the first-named applicant. 15 Norway 16 United Kingdom 98 79 17 Singapore 69 18 Italy 64 19 Slovenia 59 20 Chinese Taipei 54 2 Analysis based on European patent applications filed with the EPO (direct European applications and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase), for countries with at least 1 million inhabitants in 2015. 14 Source of population figures: International Data Base, U. S. Census Bureau. 15 Note: statistics are based on the first-named applicant.
> Largest fields of technology Medical technology was still the field where the most appli cations were filed and was also one of the fastest growing areas. Other fields with strong growth were Engines, pumps and turbines, Pharmaceuticals, Measurement and Computer technology. European companies filed the most applications in eight of the ten most active fields of technology, with US companies leading in the remaining two, Medical technology and Com puters. Only Transport and Electrical machinery and energy showed a slowdown in the number of applications. > Top applicants 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. Top applicants in 2015 2 Applications Growth 1 Philips 2 402 + 3.7 % Largest technical fields in 2015 1 1 2 3 4 Medical technology Digital communication Computer technology Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy Applications Growth + 11.0 % + 3.2 % + 7.8 % 1.8 % 5 Transport 7 802 1.6 % 6 Measurement 7 727 + 8.0 % 7 8 Organic fine chemistry Engines, pumps, turbines 6 414 6 374 10 762 10 549 10 198 12 474 + 2.1 % + 17.9 % 9 Biotechnology 6 048 + 5.1 % 2 Samsung 2 366 6.9 % 3 LG 2 091 + 27.7 % 4 Huawei 1 953 + 22.1 % 5 Siemens 1 894 11.2 % 6 United Technologies 1 869 + 110.0 % 7 Qualcomm 1 705 + 16.9 % 8 Robert Bosch 1 493 + 3.8 % 9 BASF 1 384 9.5 % 10 General Electric 1 316 + 57.0 % 2 Based on European patent applications filed with the EPO in 2015 (direct European applications and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase). Note: statistics are based on the first-named applicant. 10 Pharmaceuticals 5 884 + 9.6 % 1 Based on European patent applications filed with the EPO (direct European applications and international (PCT) applications entering the European phase). Note: statistics are based on the first-named applicant. 16 17
> Applicant categories A breakdown by category of applicants requesting services from the EPO shows that 69 % were carried out for large companies, 26 % for SMEs and individual inventors, and 5 % for universities and public research institutes. This shows that a significant proportion of applicants at the EPO are smaller entities. > Grants The EPO granted approximately 68 400 patents in 2015, an increase of nearly 6 % over 2014, and the highest ever number. Most patents went to European companies (53 %), followed by applicants from the US and Japan. The number of patents granted to Chinese applicants is growing rapidly, albeit from a low number. Shares in patent applications in 2015 1 Granted European patents by country of origin in 2015 3 SMEs 2, individual inventors 26 % Universities and public research 5 % People s Republic of China 2 % Others 4 % Republic of Korea 3 % Japan 16 % Germany 21 % France 8 % Large enterprises 69 % USA 22 % Other EPO states 14 % Switzerland 4 % Italy 3 % United Kingdom 3 % 1 Evaluation based on the analysis of a representative sample of patent applications treated by the EPO in 2015. 2 This analysis is based on the definition of SMEs of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/ 3 Analysis based on granted patents published. Patents have been allocated to the country of residence of the first-named patentee. Note: statistics are based on the first-named patentee. 18 19
> Oppositions and appeals The EPO offers a system of internal legal remedies to review its procedures and safeguard the quality of its patents. Anyone may oppose a European patent within a period of nine months from the mention of its grant. In 2015 the EPO issued around 3 713 opposition decisions and the opposition rate was 4.4 %. In these cases, some 70 % of the patents were upheld either as granted or in an amended form. Decisions reached in examination and opposition procedures may be appealed before the EPO s boards of appeal. In 2015 the EPO s technical boards of appeal settled 2 287 cases, about the same level as the previous year. Outcome of opposition decisions in 2015 Patent revoked 31 % Opposition rejected 31 % Patent upheld in amended form 38 % Technical appeals in 2015 Technical cases received 2 387 + 1.4 % Technical cases settled 2 287 0.6 % Read more >>> More information on 2015 statistics at www.epo.org/statistics-indicators2015 20
Further information Internet Annual report 2015 www.epo.org/annual-report2015 An introduction to European patents www.epo.org/guide Filing applications online www.epo.org/online-services Boards of appeal decisions www.epo.org/appeals Searching patent documents www.epo.org/searching European Patent Academy www.epo.org/academy European Inventor Award www.epo.org/european-inventor Patent teaching kit www.epo.org/teaching-kit Publications www.epo.org/publications Order by e-mail at: info@epo.org Imprint Published and edited by European Patent Office Munich Germany EPO 2016 Responsible for content Jana Mittermaier Director External Communications 22