According to a recent EPO 2018 Annual report, Siemens has filed the most patent applications in Europe, drifting Huawei to the second place. In total, Siemens filed 2493 patent applications with a Year-on-Year increase of over 12.4%. On the other hand, Huawei registered 2485 patent applications with 3.6% growth on YoY basis. It is the only Chinese company which has made it to the top 10 EPO applicants list.
There are three US companies, four are from Europe and the remaining two are from the Republic of Korea in the list. Oppo is another Chinese manufacturer who has made a debut into the top 50 list. It is the 39th top filer at the EPO with 523 patent applications and registering 1276.3% of overall growth in a year. Apple managed to file 375 applications while holding 50th place on the list.
Amid the US pressure, the Chinese telecom network supplier has managed to restrain its R&D operations from falling. Oppo also did a commendable job and made it straight into the top 50 list.
Samsung with 2449 application managed the third spot with an increase of over 21.5%. Further, it is followed by the LG, United Technologies, Qualcomm and Ericsson in the top 10 list.
Moreover, EPO has witnessed a 20.8% increase in applications from 2017. Majority of the application in the last year were by American companies, constituting over 43612 patent filings. United Technologies remained the most active US company to register 1983 applications while Qualcomm stood second with 1563 applications. Notably, US companies filed nearly twice as much as the second largest filer, Germany.
Since last year, the US started its clampdown on Huawei, shunning its 5G infrastructure on its home turf and allied nations. Australia, Japan, New Zeland, Austria, and some other countries denied Huawei from participating in 5G infrastructure trials. It led Huawei to sue the US Government last week.
(source)
