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1.3 International patenting

As from the year 2000, the total number of European patent applications has grown at an annual rate of 5 per cent. All in all, a total of 135,000 patent applications were filed in 2006. Since Finland acceded to the European Patent Convention the number of Finnish patent applications has risen to roughly 1,700 applications. The EU member states filed 45 per cent of the applications. This share has remained more or less stable throughout the 1990s. The highest figure was recorded for the United States at roughly 26 per cent. Within the EU, Germany accounted for the largest share at 18 per cent. Other major EU countries France and the Netherlands had much lower shares, at 5.9 and5.4 per cent, respectively. Finland accounted for 1.2 per cent of all applications, the 11th highest share in 2006.

Relative to population of the country, the number of European patent applications filed in Finland was the third highest. Switzerland clearly held the top position with 730 applications per one million population. The corresponding figure for all EU countries was 130 applications.

European patents totalled 63,000 in 2006

Since the year 2000, the number of European patents granted has grown at an average annual rate of 15 per cent. The share of the EU countries of all applications was 48 per cent. The United States and Germany had the biggest shares per country (by inventor), at 24 and 23 per cent, respectively. Finland’s share of European patents granted was 1.4 per cent. The share of Finnish patents was higher in ICT patents (at 2.2%) than in all patents and lower in patents in the field of biotechnology (at 0.7 per cent). The United States accounted for the biggest share of all patents (23%) as well as of ICT patents (25%) and biotechnology patents (39%).

In the United States 77,000 patents granted to foreign applicants

In 2006 a total of some 158,000 patents were granted in the United States. Foreign applicants accounted for 49 per cent of this figure. The combined share of the EU countries was 14 per cent, which was considerably less than the figures for the United States (51%) and Japan (21%). The share of patents granted to foreign applicants increased by roughly two percentage points compared to 2000. Finland’s share of slightly over one percent of patents granted to foreign applicants in the United States grew slightly, by 0.3 percentage points, from the beginning of the 2000s. The 853 patents granted in 2006 showed an increase of roughly 250 patents from the year 2000. Roughly two-thirds of the patents granted to Finnish applicants were in the ICT sector (553). The number of patents in the biotechnology sector granted to Finnish applicants was 16. The highest shares of foreign ICT and biotechnology patents were recorded for Japan (51% and 24%) and Germany (8% and 13%).

Triadic patent families

Triadic patent families are defined as a set of patents granted by the European, US and Japanese authorities that share one or more priorities. In other words, these are patents issued to a single invention at all three patent offices.

The concept of triadic patent family and the calculation method developed by the OECD are both designed to improve the international comparability of patent indicators. The key aims are to decrease the overlap in calculation inherent to conventional indicators, that is, to eliminate as far as possible the effect of patents granted for one invention in several countries and the impact of domestic patenting. Furthermore, triadic patent families area a more useful indicator for the purposes of assessing the significance of patented inventions. An invention is likely to be more significant, if patent applications are filed for it in all the three major patent offices.

A total of 53,000 triadic patent families in 2005

The number of triadic patent families has increased at an average annual rate of roughly 2 per cent since the beginning of the 2000s. The growth rate has slowed down clearly when compared with the end of the 1990s. This same trend is seen in countries with the highest numbers of triadic patent families, i.e. the United States, Japan, Germany and France. According to OECD estimates, the number of Finnish triadic patent families was 264 in 2005, which is roughly 160 patent families down from the end of the 1990s.

The United States accounted for the largest share of all triadic patent families (31%); the share was 3 percentage points down from 1995. The share of European countries of the triadic patent families fell by 4 percentage points from 1995 to 2005, while Japan’s share grew by 2 percentage points to 29 per cent. The share of Finnish triadic patent families fell from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent during the corresponding period.

Relative to population, Japan had the highest number of triadic patent families in 2005. They numbered roughly 120 per one million population. The number of Finnish triadic patent families was 50 per one million population in 2005. This was roughly 10 less than in 1995. The EU countries had 32 patent families per one million population. The highest growth in the number of triadic patent families measured with this indicator was in Korea, where their number grew from 7 in 1995 to 65 in 2005, which was the sixth highest figure.

International cooperation in patenting

This section discusses international cooperation between patent holders and patent inventors. The cooperation is described with the patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The statistics presented here are gross figures and therefore neither the numbers of patents by country nor the total numbers are exactly the same as those presented above.

A distinction is made between three types of cooperation:
– domestic ownership of foreign inventions, e.g. patents owned by Finnish enterprises or private individuals that have one or more foreign inventors;
– foreign ownership of domestic inventions, e.g. inventions (patents) made in Finland that have one or more foreign owners;
– patents that involve one or more foreign inventors.

Ownership of foreign inventions was by far the highest in Luxembourg, where 77 per cent of EPO patents and over 87 per cent of USPTO patents had a foreign inventor (Figure 6.4.1.). However, the overall number of patents granted was low at only some 60 patents per year. Among the countries with significant patenting activities, the highest share was recorded for Switzerland, where roughly 47 per cent of the EPO patents and roughly 54 per cent USPTO patents had a foreign inventor. The figures recorded in the Netherlands were similar to those of Switzerland; in the EPO patents the share was lower (40%) and in the USPTO patents higher (59%). About 26 per cent of all USPTO patents granted to Finnish applicants had a foreign inventor. The share was lower in EPO patents (20%). Internationalisation in the EPO patents was lowest in Japan (4%) and Italy (6%).

When examined by the numbers of patents granted, Luxembourg again had the highest share of foreign owners of domestic inventions: the share for EPO patents was 54 per cent for USPTO patents 76 per cent. The next highest shares were recorded for Great Britain and Austria, where 35 per cent of EPO patents and 53 per cent of USPTO patents had a foreign applicant (or a joint foreign applicant). The share of foreign applications for inventions made in Finland was about 10 per cent both for EPO and USPTO patents. At the EU level, the figure for EPO patents was around 10 per cent and for USPTO patents slightly over 20 per cent.

The involvement of foreign inventors in domestic inventions provides a measure of the internationalisation of scientific activities and product development. Joint patenting has generally shown a tendency to increase. The highest shares of joint innovations, at 53 per cent of EPO patents and 62 per cent of USPTO patents, were in patents granted to applicants from Luxembourg. In major countries with high levels of patenting, such as Germany and the United States, the share of joint inventions was relatively low. For EPO patents it stood at roughly 10 per cent.

In Finnish patents the share of joint inventions was slightly over 10 per cent both for EPO patents and USPTO patents. In 2006 EPO patents owned by Finnish holders had the highest number of inventors from the United States and Sweden. In patents granted in the United States, the highest number of inventors came from the US, Germany and Great Britain (4%). Among patents granted by the EPO for inventions made in Finland, the highest number patent owners came from Sweden and the United States. As for patents granted in the United States, in which a Finnish inventor was involved, the highest number of patent owners were from the US and Sweden. In both EPO and USPTO patents, the highest numbers of joint inventions were recorder with US and German inventors.

Source: Patenting 2006. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Markku Virtaharju (09) 1734 3290

Director in charge: Kaija Hovi

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Updated 25.10.2007