EPO Patent Applications: Japan Remains Third Despite Tough Competition from China

According to the Patent Index 2022 announced by the European Patent Office, there were a record high 193,460 international patent applications filed with it, up 2.5% from the previous year.

Japan continued to rank third behind the United States and Germany; however, its filings decreased by 0.4% year-on-year to 21,576 and marked the fourth consecutive year the figure had dropped. China placed fourth and is proving tough competition for Japan as it had a year-on-year increase of 15.1%. Over the last five years, it has more than doubled its number of filings.

By technical field, Japan made 2,100 applications for electrical machinery, apparatus, energy; 1,341 for transport; and 1,222 for digital communication.

Number of Patents Filed with the EPO in 2022 by Country

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the European Patent Office.

Sony was the top Japanese company for filing for the seventh consecutive year. Compared with other companies worldwide, Sony’s placing had been gradually rising, having ranked eleventh in 2018, ninth in 2019, and eighth in both 2020 and 2021. In 2022, however, it dropped back to tenth place. Its filings accounted for less than a third of those filed by Huawei, which ranked top globally with 4,505 patent applications.

Top 10 Japanese Companies by Number of Patents Filed with the EPO　

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the European Patent Office.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)