BRUSSELS, March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

- Samsung takes No. 1 spot among patent applicants at the EPO

- For the first time ranking topped by Asian company

- With 5.6% share, Korea fifth-largest country in patent applications

- Filings from Asia fuel growth at the EPO

The ranking of the list of the largest patent applicants at the European Patent Office (EPO) was for the first time topped by an Asian company: With 2.251 patent applications Samsung leads the 2012 list of applicants, followed by Siemens (2.193) and BASF (1.713). LG arrived on fifth position with 1635 applications.

Among the top patent filing countries Korea was ranked fifth with 14.491 patent filings in 2012 (9.3% growth compared to 2011), representing a share of 5.6% of the total.

The most important technology field for Korean companies is Digital Communication, representing 13% of all European patent applications coming from Korea. This field shows by far the highest growth among the leading technologies at the EPO and accounts for 9% of all applications originating from Korea.

In total EPO received 257.744 patent filings in 2012 from all over the world. This represents a 5.2% increase over 2011 (244.934,) and sets a new record in the office's history.

"The patent filings of today are shaping the innovations of tomorrow," EPO President Benoît Battistelli said today at the presentation of the 2012 EPO Annual Results in Brussels. "In 2012, the steepest growth in patent filings and more than half of the increase came from Asian firms."

The top five country positions in 2012 are held by the US (24.7%), Japan (19.9%), Germany (13.4%), China (7.3%), and Korea (5.5%). With 63% of the filings, the majority of filings again came from non-European countries (2011: 62%).

With BASF, Bosch and Ericsson, three further European companies figure on the list of the top ten applicants at the EPO, which, in 2012, is made up of four European, four Asian and two US firms.

About the EPO

The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest European public service institutions with almost 7 000 employees. Its headquarters are in Munich and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna. The EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation between the European states in the field of patents. Through its centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain patent protection in the EPO's 38 member states. Internationally, the EPO maintains close co-operation ties with the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

More information and detailed statistics can be found here (links to the EPO's Online Annual Report):

Ranking of European patent filings: http://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2012/statistics-trends/patent-filings.html

Country rankings for European patents granted: http://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2012/statistics-trends/granted-patents.html

Patent applicant ranking of top 50 companies: http://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2012/statistics-trends/top-applicants.html

Ranking of the largest technical fields: http://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/annual-report/2012/statistics-trends/patent-applications.html#tab=5

Download Centre: http://www.epo.org/news-issues/press/releases/archive/2013/20130306.html

Press contact:

Mr Oswald Schröder
Spokesperson
Tel: +49-89-2399-1800
Mobile: +49-163-8399668
oschroeder@epo.org

Mr Rainer Osterwalder
Deputy spokesperson
European Patent Office
Tel: +49-89-2399-1820
Mobile: +49-163-8399527
rosterwalder@epo.org

Axel J. Schafmeister
Shepard Fox Communications
Telephone: +41-44-252-0708
Mobile: +41-78-714-8010
axel.schafmeister@shepard-fox.com
http://www.shepard-fox.com