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Law360 (March 16, 2021, 2:02 AM EDT) -- European patent applications by U.S. companies and inventors dropped 4.1% in 2020 over the prior year, while filings from China and South Korea spiked, according to an annual report from the European Patent Office released Tuesday.
The report said the drop in U.S. patent applications, down to 44,293 from 46,177 in 2019, was the biggest among the regions that make up the majority of filings at the EPO. German patent applications decreased by 3%, while Japanese filings dropped by 1.1%. Still, U.S. companies and inventors constituted the largest chunk of EPO applicants, making up nearly 25% of applications last year amid the global disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Germany landed the second spot overall, followed by Japan, China and France.
"Despite the drop in European patent applications coming from the U.S. in 2020, American companies and inventors continued to drive innovation in a wide range of key technologies, including health care and digital," EPO President António Campinos said in a statement.
U.S. companies and inventors continued to dominate in patent applications in the fields of medical technology, computer technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, the report said.
Campinos noted that, while demand for European patent protection stayed high overall, it fluctuated across economic regions and technology sectors.
Despite the drop in U.S. filings last year, the EPO said overall patent applications in Europe remained relatively steady in 2020, dropping by only 0.7% as compared with 2019. The EPO got 180,532 applications last year, which came in just below 2019's record high of 181,532. And while some of the top countries filed fewer applications than the prior year, the amount of applications other countries filed shot up. China's filings rose by 9.9%, while South Korea boosted its filings by 9.2%, the report said.
Even as EPO applications from U.S. companies and inventors dropped overall, pharmaceutical and biotechnology filings saw the biggest increase in EPO patent applications for 2020. Pharmaceutical patents from the U.S. rose by 13.6% over 2019, the report said, with Johnson & Johnson among the top filers in the medical technology and pharmaceutical spaces.
Transport filings — as well as filings for engines, pumps and turbines — saw the steepest declines at 21.3% and 29.2%, respectively.
Qualcomm, meanwhile, replaced Raytheon as the number one U.S. filer at the EPO in 2020, with 1,711 applications, and came in fourth overall. Raytheon Technologies dropped to the second most active U.S. filer, with 1,284 applications, dipping 44% from the prior year. Alphabet, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson rounded out the top five U.S. applicants.
South Korea-based Samsung topped the list of all EPO applicants in 2020, lodging 3,276 patent applications. China-based Huawei and South Korean company LG followed closely behind to cinch the second and third spots. The report suggests the companies' dominance in 2020 "reflects the sustained growth of patent applications from China and South Korea."
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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