UK patent applications have dipped at the EPO, but is it all bad news?

07-04-2022

Karl Barnfather

UK patent applications have dipped at the EPO, but is it all bad news?

Chris Redan / Shutterstock.com

While the UK’s innovation may have fallen behind other countries over the past two years, there is still cause for optimism, as Karl Barnfather of Withers & Rogers explains.

According to the European Patent Office (EPO), the volume of European patent applications filed in 2021 by UK businesses has fallen slightly for the second year in a row.

This may be due to a pandemic-related  “hangover” in research and development activity, which is affecting some industry sectors.

The Patent Index Report 2021, released this month, stated that patent applications made by UK businesses to the EPO dropped from 5,698 in 2020 to 5,627 in 2021, a decrease of 1.2%. However, there was an overall increase in the volume of European patent applications, reaching a record level of 188,600.


Withers & Rogers, patent applications, EPO, innovation, pandemic, COVID-19, consumer goods, technology, medtech, Unilever, British American Tobacco

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