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Chinese Firms Are Leaders in European Patent Application, EPO Spokesperson Says

Chinese companies maintained a strong momentum in European patent applications last year, with battery technologies becoming a new growth driver, according to the spokesperson of the European Patent Office.

Chinese firms and innovators filed a record of over 20,000 patent applications to the EPO last year, up 0.5 percent from the year before, Luis Berenguer told Yicai, citing data from the EPO's latest annual report. Even though the growth rate slowed compared to double-digit earlier in the decade, applications from China have more than doubled since 2018 and quadrupled since 2014.

"China had 12 companies among the EPO's 100 top patent applicants of 2024, several of which were the biggest filers in digital communication," Berenguer noted.

Huawei Technologies filed 4,322 applications to the EPO last year, down over 15 percent from the previous year, according to data from the EPO report. The telecoms giant remained China's biggest patent applicant but moved from first to second place in the global ranking.

The top five global applicants in the digital communication sector all filed fewer applications last year than in 2023. "This is a reflection of the cyclical nature of innovation growth in this field, which will likely see a new wave of applications with the introduction of new technological developments like sixth-generation network," Berenguer noted.

Last year, China witnessed a 6.6 percent decline in patent applications in both the digital communication and computer technology fields, data from the report showed. However, the electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy fields, driven by a 79 percent growth in battery technology, overtook computer technology to become China's second-largest field.

Chinese firms were dominant in battery technology, with Contemporary Amperex Technology, Even Energy, and BYD ranking second, sixth, and ninth globally, respectively.

CATL, China's second-largest applicant, posted the strongest overall growth among the global top 15, applying for 40 percent more patents in 2024 than the year before, thus moving to 14th from 18th spot, Berenguer noted.

Huawei was also the second-biggest applicant in the field of computer technology, a growing field for patent applications to the EPO, thanks to the development push for artificial intelligence-related technologies.

Despite challenges in predicting future trends, Chinese companies and inventors are expected to continue innovating and filing a large number of patent applications to the EPO, Berenguer said.

The EPO, in close collaboration with the China National Intellectual Property Administration, aims to enhance services for patent applicants, Berenguer added. Since 2020, Chinese applicants can select the EPO as their International Searching Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and since last December, they can pay search fees in Chinese yuan, streamlining the application process.