The aim of these articles is to keep our Clients and Associates updated about developments in the sector of Intellectual Property in general and our firm in particular. In this way, we wish to provide a broader view of the tools that the field of trade marks, domain names, patents, designs and related rights offers to entrepreneurs to enhance and protect their efforts in researching and developing new solutions and ideas.
EPO Patent Applications Remain Stable in 2024, Italy Ranks Fifth in Europe
European Patent application numbers remain stable in 2024, with a -0,1% as compared with the previous year.
Data provided by the Patent Index 2024 of the European Patent Office (EPO) show a slight increase (+0.3%) in patent applications from the 39 European countries that are members of the EPO and an (equally slight) decrease (-0.4%) in patent applications from non-European countries.
In summary, the distribution of patent applications at the EPO in 2024 has seen the following changes compared to 2023:
- from EPO member states: +0.3%
- from EU states: -0.4%
- from non-European states: -0.4%
Overall, the number of applications decreased by 0.1% in 2024.
As regards the main technical fields, Information technology (including artificial intelligence, machine learning and pattern recognition) leads the EPO patent rankings for the first time with 16,815 applications filed in 2024, 3.3% more than the previous year. In second place Electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (+8.9%), in third place Digital communication (including mobile networks), down more than 6 percentage points.
The following image shows the first 10 fields in the number of European patent applications (2024):
Of the total applications, 43.3% came from European EPO member states.
In first place is the United States with 47,787 applications, 0.8% less on an annual basis, followed by Germany with 25,033 (+0.4%) and Japan with 21,062 (-2.4%).
Italy is 11th worldwide with 4,853 patent applications filed.
The top applicant countries for the year 2024 are the following (the numbers in brackets indicate the percentage with respect to 2023):
- USA (-0.8%)
- Germany (+0.4%)
- Japan (-2.4%)
- China (+0.5%)
- South Korea (+4.2%)
- France (+1.1%)
- Switzerland (+3.2%)
- Netherlands (0.0%)
- UK (+3.1%)
- Sweden (-3.7%)
In spite of a slight decrease in the number of patent applications coming from Italian companies, our country remains fifth in Europe and 11th at world level.
- Main fields of activity of Italian applicants: transport, handling, motors, pumps and turbines
- Main Italian applicants: Coesia, Ferrari, Iveco Group, Leonardo, Pirelli
Among the top applicants, the company that filed the most applications in 2024 is Samsung, which with 5,107 patents overtakes Huawei (4,322), now in second place. LG follows with 3,623 applications and Qualcomm with 3,015. The first company from an EPO country is Siemens in sixth place with 1,830 patent applications filed. Among the top five places there is no room for Europe: South Korea occupies the first and third positions, China the second and the United States the fourth and fifth.
According to Antonio Campinos, EPO president, to remain globally competitive, Europe needs to improve its innovation ecosystem and do more to help inventors expand and commercialise their inventions, especially in critical areas such as green technologies, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors.
Our team includes patent attorneys whose knowledge covers a wide variety of technological fields and who are admitted to practice before both the EPO and the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM).
With our long and consolidated experience in prosecution of EP applications as well as EP validation, we would be very glad to assist your clients in obtaining patent protection in Europe and Italy.
Please contact us at email@interpatent.com.