Automotive companies dominate INPI patent filings
French automotive company Groupe PSA and automotive supplier Valeo had more than 1,000 patent applications published at the National Institute for Intellectual Property (INPI) last year.
In 2019, 14,844 patent applications were published at INPI, according to a report from the office, issued today, June 26.
Top filers
Groupe PSA, which owns brands including Peugeot, Citroën and Vauxhall, retook first place from Valeo. It had occupied the spot from 2007 to 2015, before being overtaken by the automotive supplier.
With 1,183 patent applications published (compared to 1,074 in 2018), the Groupe PSA increased its number of filings by more than 10%. Falling to second place, Valeo had 1,034 applications published in 2019, compared to 1,355 in 2018, a drop of more than 23%.
Aerospace manufacturer Safran, public research company French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA) and car manufacturer Renault rounded off the list of the top five patent filers in 2019, unchanged from the year prior.
Further down the list, there are significant changes in the number of published applications among the top 20 applicants. Automotive supplier Plastic Omnium went from 58 requests published in 2018 to 116 in 2019, an increase of 100%, while automobile company Faurecia increased 111 to 221 published requests, up 99%.
Small enterprises
As in the year prior, patent applications published at INPI by the top 50 patent applicants in 2019 represent more than half (52%) of all published patent applications. Ten years ago, they represented 47.7% of the requests published and 33.1% in 2004 (first year available).
In 2019, only three mid-sized companies were among the top 50 patent applicants at INPI, but this is an increase from two in the year prior. And, the top ten small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) applying for INPI patents represent 141 applications published in 2019.
Pascal Faure, director general of INPI, said: “In a few years, the list of the main patent applicants at INPI has become a benchmark. This new edition shows that large groups largely dominate the charts, because they have fully integrated industrial property into their innovation strategy, which is not always the case for the smallest companies.”
Faure added that this trend confirms the need for IP awareness-raising actions towards small companies and research organisations.
According to Faure, France’s PACTE law of 2019 is designed to make it easier for SMEs to operate. The law includes important developments for IP in the country, including the creation of a provisional patent; the examination of inventive step; the introduction of a right of opposition for patents; and the creation of a cancellation board.
INPI implemented all of these measures in 2020, said Faure, adding that they will considerably facilitate access to IP and contribute to “strengthening the robustness of French securities, so that innovation remains an essential vector for [the] competitiveness of France”.
WIPR spoke to Faure last year about the office’s work helping SMEs with their IP strategy. Click here to find out more.
Public research
Ten research, higher education and state establishments are among the top applicants.
The CEA, with 659 applications published, compared to 674 last year, remained in fourth place, while the National Center for Scientific Research took 6th place (356 published requests, compared to 401 in 2018) and IFP Energies Nouvelles ranked 13th (190 published requests compared to 182 last year).
For the first time, INPI focused on joint patent filings—in 2019, almost one in ten patent applications was co-filed by several applicants. Two out of five applications came from research, higher education or state establishments, and of these, seven out of ten patent applications come from a research/industry collaboration.
State research organisation the National Center for Scientific Research ranked at the top of these establishments, with 158 jointly-filed patent applications.
Out of all of these patent applications co-filed by the ten establishments applying for patents with companies, 62% are with large companies, 30% with SMEs and nearly 8% with mid-sized companies.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories
Online marketplaces are ‘retail services’, argues CJEU adviser
