Samsung filed the most European patent applications 2014

Korean electronics company Samsung filed the highest number of patent applications – 2,541 – at the European Patent Office (EPO) last year. Samsung was followed by the European technology groups Philips and Siemens. With telecom giant Huawei in 5th place, a Chinese company entered the top 10 list for the second time ever. (ZTE was number 10 in 2012.)

In terms of technology fields, the volume of applications at the EPO grew most strongly in the fields of biotechnology (+12.1%), electrical machinery (+8%) and computer technology (+7.8%). For biotechnology, this means that the downward trend in the past was reversed in 2014.

According to EPO, the number of patent filings received by the office last year increased by 3.1% to more than 274 000. This is a new all-time high and the fifth year in a row with growing number of filings.

A large part of the growth is coming from China (+18.2%) and the USA (+6.8%). Japanese filings dropped (-4.4%) while European filings increased slightly (+1.2%).