Patents - EPO Annual Report 2017: Some Encouragement for the UK but the Big Story is the Rise of China
Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert As I noted yesterday in Comptroller visits the EPO 27 March 2018 NIPC News, British companies and inventors applied for 5 313 European patents last year according to the European Patent Office's Annual Report 2017 which was a 2.4% increase over the 5,188 of the previous year and the 4th straight year of increase. This is with with an increase in PCT applications from the UK from 5,502 in 2016 to an estimated 5,567 in 2017 (see PCT international applications by origin on the WIPO website). There has also been a 9.3% increase in international trade mark applications through the Madrid system (see Madrid international applications by origin ) and a small increase in design applications under the Hague agreement to which the UK has recently acceded (see Hague international applications by origin ). It is probably too early to speculate on the reasons for this increase in filing activi...