Patent Index 2022: EPO Receives Record High Patent Filings from China in 2022
On 28 March 2023, the 2022 edition of Patent Index was published by the European Patent Office (EPO). The report shows that patent applications filed from around the world with the EPO in 2022 were up 2.5% to a new record of 193,460, among which 19,041 applications, an increase of 15.1% year-on-year, were from China, also a record high for Chinese filings at the EPO.
The top five countries of origin for patent applications at the EPO in 2022 were the United States (up 2.9% year-on-year), accounting for a quarter of the total applications, followed by Germany, Japan, China, and France. The growth in the number of patent applications in 2022 was mainly driven by China, the United States, and Korea, with their applications increasing by 15.1%, 2.9%, and 10% respectively year-on-year.
In terms of company ranking, Huawei continued to rank first among all companies that submitted patent applications to the EPO in 2022, with a total of 4,505 applications, a year-on-year increase of more than 27%. LG, Qualcomm, and Samsung ranked second to fourth respectively. Apart from Huawei, eight Chinese enterprises, namely, OPPO, ZTE, Tencent, BOE, vivo, Baidu, Xiaomi, and CATL, were also among the top 50 applicants.
By technology fields, digital communication, with a total of 16,705 applications, was again the field with the most patent applications filed with the EPO in 2022, followed by medical technology (15,683) and computer technology (15,193).
As noted on another occasion by EPO spokesperson Mr. Luis Berenguer Giménez, patent applications from China, now accounting for nearly 10% of the total applications at the EPO, have more than doubled over the past five years and are nearly five times the level of a decade ago. He further observed that China is not only strong in digital communication, computer technology, and artificial intelligence, but is increasingly active in such fields as biotechnology and medical technology.
