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7 November 2018Patents

Patent filing in autonomous driving accelerating rapidly, says EPO

The number of European patent applications related to autonomous driving has grown 20 times faster than filings for other technologies in recent years, according to a study by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Council for Automotive R&D.

A release shared by the EPO yesterday, November 7, said that the statistics may “signal the coming of a transport revolution”.

The study, titled “ Patents and self-driving vehicles”, showed that between 2011 and 2017, patent filings at the EPO relating to autonomous driving increased by 330%. However, filings directed to all other technologies in the same period rose by just 16%.

Over the past decade, the EPO said it has received approximately 18,000 patent applications related to self-driving vehicles; almost 4,000 filings were made in 2017 alone.

The study indicated that Europe and the US have a strong lead in innovation in this area. Since 2011, the territories have each accounted for roughly a third of all self-driving vehicle patent applications at the EPO, ahead of Japan (13%), Korea (7%), and China (3%).

António Campinos, president of the EPO, said that Europe is “well positioned in the key technologies related to self-driving vehicles”.

Leading the way in Europe is Germany, with more than 500 patent applications coming from the country in 2017, while France, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands have also shown significant innovative activity in the area.

The study also suggested that around half of the 25 most active filers in the field, including the top four, are not automotive or transport companies—rather, they are information, communication and technology firms.

At the top of the table is Samsung (624 patent filings), followed by Intel (590), Qualcomm (361), LG (348), and Bosch (343).

Campinos said: “Automotive and digital technologies are both traditionally very innovative sectors and the report shows that there is a crossroads where the two sectors meet which is marked by significant changes in its patent landscape.”

“As patents are filed ahead of the appearance of products in the marketplace, information from patents can offer unique insights into the direction a technology is heading, and which companies and countries are in the lead,” he added.

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14 January 2019   UK-based trade association, the IP Federation, has urged the European Patent Office (EPO) to commission a “comprehensive and impartial study” in view of concerns over a potential new system of patent deferral.