Last year’s figures show that 28% of applications came from the USA and 17% from Japan. Within Europe, the highest number of applications came from Germany (20%), followed by France (6.7%), the Netherlands (4.4%) and the UK (4.3%).
The largest number of applications related to electronic communications (9.3%), medical technology (8.8%), electrical components (7%) and data processing (5%), with just under 22% of the applications filed in 2000 concerning subject matter in high-tech fields.
Most of the applications received by the EPO were filed as international applications under the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT), which enables patent applications to be filed simultaneously in over 100 countries.
The report also showed that the time taken to grant a patent has increased since 1999, from an average of 46 months to an average of 49 from application to grant.