31 May 2011
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The Office received a record number of patent filings in 2010.
Following the announcement of key figures in April, the EPO today published detailed statistics on patent filings and grants for 2010 on its website.
Last year, the EPO received 235 000 European patent filings, and increase of 11 % on the previous year and the highest number of patent filings recorded in the Office's 34-year history. Until 2007, growth had been steady, but it slowed in 2008 and the number of filings even dropped in 2009 as a result of the recession.
"The figures are clear: growth is back," EPO President Benoît Battistelli said. "In 2010 there was an increase in demand for patent protection from every region of the world. After a two-year slump the EU and US are nearly back to their levels of patenting of before the crisis. This combined with a massive rise in patent applications from Asia - led by China - has made 2010 a record year at the EPO."
Looking at only direct European patent applications, there is a similar trend. Following a dip in 2009, the Office received 150 960 direct applications last year, an increase of 12%.
The EPO issued 136 000 final decisions on grant proceedings (excluding oppositions and appeals) in 2010. Of these, more than 58 000 (43%) were grants.
Further details, including a breakdown of the figures by country or technical field, have been published in the statistics area of this website. This year, for the first time, we are also providing the data as Excel spreadsheets for you to download.
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