For a long time, many Chinese enterprises have invested in European multi-country markets, and they effectively protect independent innovation technologies through European patents, which is a strategic component of them.

Pursuant to the "Annual Report 2018-Statistics List" issued by the European Patent Office, China ranks sixth among the source countries for European patent applications.

Fig.1 European patent applications by China from 2000 to 2018

Main Technical Fields for European Patent Application 

Table 1 The top 10 International Patent Classification (IPC) technical fields of European patent applications from 2000 to 2015

With the European Patent Gazette search tool, we searched the IPC of patent applications filed in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, and analyzed all patent applications filed in 2000 and 2005 as well as the first 1,500 patent applications filed in 2010 and 2015.

Fig.2 The evolution trend of the top 10 International Patent Classification (IPC) in European patent applications from 2000 to 2015

It can be seen from the main technical fields related to the international patent sub-categories listed in Figure 2 that the patent applications related to the field of information and communication technology take a dominate place. In accordance with the search of the top-ranked sub-category A61K (medical, dental or cosmetic preparations), the number of European patent applications related to the pharmaceutical industry is relatively high. Due to its correlation with the invention of new active pharmaceutical compounds, the said sub-category is usually for patent application with the sub-category A61P and the sub-category C07D.

Fig.3 The ranking of top 10 Chinese applicants in the European Patent Office from 2000 to 2015

Figure 3 lists the top 10 Chinese applicants for European patents. Through the statistics of the European Patent Bulletin Search Database, analyze the patent applications filed by each Chinese applicant in 2000 and 2005 and the first 1,500 patent applications filed in 2010 and 2015. Among them, the patent application data of the top 3 Chinese applicants-Huawei, ZTE and BOE, strongly confirms that patent applications related to information and communication technology, telecommunications and Internet of Things technology take the lead in European patent applications. The number of patent applications of the top 10 Chinese patent applicants accounted for 77% of the total number of patent applications in the same period.

As a subjective issue, the evaluation of the quality of patent applications needs to clarify the quality indicators used. In this study, we analyzed the authorization proportion, rejection proportion, and withdrawal proportion of European patent applications filed in certain years. In order to learn about the quality variation trend of European patent applications from China, we analyzed the patent applications filed by Chinese patent applicants in 2000 and 2005 and the first 1,500 patent applications filed in 2010 and 2015, so that from the European Patent Bulletin Database, we collected data results about the patent application authorization rate, patent application rejection rate, patent application withdrawal rate, and patent application regarded as withdrawal rate , as shown in Fig.4.

Fig.4　Evaluation results of quality index for European patent applications originating from China in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015

In combination of the above data, it shows that the quality of European patent applications from China has been improving since 2000, in which compared with 2000, the patent authorization rate of Chinese applicants in 2015 increased by 21%; in the same period, the total proportion of decisions related to withdrawal decreased by 61%, it means that the quality of European patent applications originating from China has been significantly improved.

Conclusion

We can learn from the European patent application data field by Chinese enterprises as patent applicants that Chinese patent applicants are increasingly applying European patent applications to provide more sufficient patent protection for their technologies. Most importantly, the study indicates that the absolute index rate of Chinese applicants related to European patent authorization is showing a continuous upward trend, which benefited from China’s strong investment in the talent teams (for example, patent attorneys and patent examiners, etc.) required by the CNIPA to build and maintain the effective implementation of the patent system, as well as the vigorous Chinese enterprises continuously exploring overseas market Chinese companies. Chinese enterprises are now developing their technical protection solutions in specific technical fields, especially in the fields of digital communications and computer technology.

From China IP

September 24th, 2021