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.”
