CIPA: EPO reviews 2014 statistics

Patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) grew by 3.1% in 2014, hitting a new record high of more than 274,000 applications, compared to 266,000 in 2013. The figures were revealed in an EPO press briefing on February 26, 2015 to accompany the publication of the office’s 2014 statistical report. But these headline figures are distorted by the huge number of Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT) applications that designate the EPO but are abandoned before the application is filed with the EPO.