chapter 8 chemical patents: a comparative analysis...
TRANSCRIPT
224
CHAPTER 8
CHEMICAL PATENTS: A COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS
In trying to evaluate the innovative potential of a firm, an industry, a region or a nation-
--, no single perspective seems to be a sufficient guide. Rather a series of different
analytical lenses gives a better overall picture.
-Jane Marceau
CHAPTER 8
CHEMICAL PATENTS: A COMPARITIVE
ANALYSIS
224-
296
8.1 Need and importance of patent analysis 225
8.2 Benefits of patent analysis 226
8.3 Patent statistical resources 227
8.4 Patinformatics 228
8.5 Types of analysis 229
8.6 Patents: A tool for S & T indicators 232
8.7 Patent analysis 234
8.8 Significant findings and trends from the study 281
8.9 Emerging areas in chemical sciences 287
References 293
225
Chapter 8: Chemical Patents: A Comparative Analysis
Patents are treated as one of the best information resources as well as indicators in S &
T. Patents have occupied economic importance and value in IPR. Generally the study of
patent analysis is performed for measuring the developments in a particular scientific
area, contribution of countries, finding technological trends, etc. Searching patent
information is a skill and its analysis is a tedious task because of its vastness. Desired
and accurate useful information has to be collected and analyzed for decision making.
For this purpose, the data can be collected from the secondary sources like abstracting
journals, citations, patent office databases and few statistical and analytical information
resources which are available for searching patent information and also for statistical
analysis of patent literature. The statistical analysis support the aspects like
Awareness of the development in area of research.
Increasing stimulation for patenting activity.
Supporting the ideas and concepts of the inventor.
Valuation and commercialization of activity.
Drawing the state of art.
For trend analysis, technology review etc.
New concept has been developed in patent analysis which is now known as
Patinformatics. Patinformatics is relates to patent analysis which is carried out for
various purposes including policy decisions, and mapping trends etc. This term is
coined on the similar lines of the terms bioinformatics, chemoinformatics, informatics,
etc
8.1 Need and Importance of Patent Analysis.
The researchers need to test an idea before any substance is produced and brought to the
market to see whether the same concept or idea has not already been practiced or
anticipated by others. Then the researcher blocks his concept with patent protection.
Patent analysis provides an overview of innovation and a method to track technological
226
developments. Bailey Wood (Thomson,
http://www.infonortics.com/chemical/ch03/slides/derwent.pdf) in his presentation
suggested that patent analysis deals with counting of patents; (either application or
granted) to find out technological trends, geographic trends, company trends (assignee
trends), experts, key players, etc. This helps in tracking the competitive intelligence, R
& D strategies, key player‟s identification, area of contribution of the assignee and
predictions in technological trends.
8.2 Benefits of Patent Analysis:
Patent analysis enables to review technology and to trace the trends over a period of
time. This also enables to get the geographical distribution of patents (coverage of
patents in US, EP, KR, CN, DE, etc), major players (Sanofi, Astrazenica, Lilly, Takeda,
Merck, Bayer, etc.), and key inventors. This type of analysis is very useful for
developing future activities. It also supports technology portfolio analysis which
indicates the development of products like anti-cancer drugs, enzyme inhibitors,
antivirals, key inventors in the area etc. Thus patent analysis is considered as the best
method for highlighting the areas for further study and collaboration. Bagheri (2004)
pointed out that there is a need for analysis of patent literature which benefits the users
in tracking the development of science. He has grouped the patent information analysis
into 3 levels, viz.1) Strategic level, 2) Business level, and 3) Technical level.
8.2.1 Strategic Level:
In strategic level of analysis, the formulation of long-term technology strategies and
selection of suitable research projects according to those strategies is carried out. This
task is specialized and complicated. This task requires mastery over fields of technology
management like, „technology forecasting‟, „technology assessment‟, „technology
monitors‟, „technology mapping‟, and „formulation of technology strategy‟ etc. This
needs special kind of patent analysis entitled „patent mapping‟ through which it is
possible to trace the evolution of different technologies. Technological orientations of
major companies, selection of suitable partners for strategic technological partnerships,
are few of the benefits.
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8.2.2 Business level:
Patent analysis is beneficial for the research institutes of developing countries and helps
in identification of competitors and monitors key competitors in respective fields. Many
companies map their competitor‟s patent portfolio to help in identifying research trends
and gaps in research for developing new technologies. Few other benefits under this
category are identification of potential licensors, analysis of technical and legal
information of related patents, process for transfer of given technology before triggering
the negotiation, boosting the bargaining power of buyers, etc.
8.2.3 Technical level:
Patent analysis can also yield technical benefits for research institutes of developing
countries. Acquiring technical information from patents and prevention of duplication is
possible. In initial stages of product development, patents are a key source of
information regarding latest technologies, and may act as a source of ideas for new
innovations. This information may even inspire researchers with new ideas about new
applications of a technology in other industries. Patent analysis is essential in chemical
sciences as well as other disciplines to monitor the trends in respective area of subject.
8.3 Patent Statistical Resources:
There are few organizations which generate and circulate annual patent statistics.
Chemical Abstracts Service, Thomson Reuters, OECD, USPTO, EPO, WIPO, and
patent offices of every country publish patent statistical data and also global trends in
patent filings. These sources are useful for collecting patent information and developing
new strategies based on this data by analyzing and using indicators. Patent analysis is
very popular for deriving various trends. The other sources of collecting information on
patent filing data are patent databases like CA, DELPHION, USPTO, PCT/WIPO,
DWPI, etc. which cover patents as well as main source of information for patent
literature, which helps in collecting the patent data for analyzing various trends. These
databases provide access to search data and analyze or refine it as per the requirements
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using access points. The patents in chemical sciences can be analyzed using the IPC
access point, and using this access point information about patent assignee, year,
language, major contributors can be isolated by applying indicators.
New concepts developed for patent analysis are covered under the area called
„Patinformatics‟, which is a process of measuring patenting activities for managerial or
research decisions. The application of Patinformatics is gaining momentum day by day
and softwares are also being developed to evaluate and analyze enormous patent
information.
8.4 Patinformatics:
Patinformatics has developed as an emerging technique, which analyses a set of patent
data to discover relationships and trends among them which would be difficult to
analyze when working with single patent document. Thus semantic patent search
technology has revolutionized in patent research. Trippe (2003) pointed out that the
field of patinformatics is used to indicate trends and developments and it deals with
science of analyzing patent information to be searched. Internet resources, patent
databases, data analyzing software and other analytical tools have developed more
opportunities in the area of patent search, analysis and other value added services. India
has become an attractive destination for patent related services because of availability of
technical human resource and cost effectiveness. This calls for appropriate human
resource development and upgrading skills of existing information professionals.
The analyzed patent data can be presented in visual representation using bar graphs,
polygonal line graphs, pie charts, radar charts and in other charts/graphs formats, which
are also called Patent Maps. The various tools useful for generation of patent maps are
Vantage Point, Aureka ThemeScape, Crystal Xelcious, STN AnaVist, etc. There is an
integration of latent semantic analysis / advanced linguistics patent search technology,
portfolio management software, online patent analytics, international patent database
and information used in a Decision Support System (DSS).
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8.4.1 Patinformatics Applications:
Patent information has different aspects other than technological or legal information.
Some of the practical applications of patent information for decision making include:
Managing and monitoring Research and Development (R&D),
A Tool for creative thinking,
Competitor monitoring,
Technology assessment,
New Venture Evaluation,
Input for licensing strategy,
Supporting to Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
Human Resource Management (HRM).
In today's complex knowledge-driven economy, effective use of patent information for
developing and introducing a new product may determine the success or failure of the
product and, in turn, the success or failure of the company itself. Hence patent analytics
are used to avoid many problems in R & D for making research decisions and policies.
8.5 Types of Analysis:
Generally the following types of analysis are useful for researchers in building their
concepts according to their needs. (Bailey Wood,
http://www.infonortics.com/chemical/ch03/slides/derwent.pdf (Accessed on 12 Feb
2010))
Innovation trends
Technology trends
Competitors analysis
Assignee / Inventor trends or key players
Geographical trends
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Research trends
Emerging technology trends
The other factors considered while analyzing patents are citation tree (citing patents,
backward and forward), finding the benchmark patents etc.
8.5.1 Key Analysis Techniques:
There are six different indicators used to assess the inventiveness of an organization
(Thomson Reuters. http://science.thomsonreuters.com/press/pdf/innovationresearch.pdf)
Volume of patents (for ranking according to volume of patent contribution)
Impact of patents (later published inventions which cite earlier work i.e. citation
count)
Efficiency and effectiveness of research (worldwide trends in patent filings)
Productivity of research (number of patents in force and practice)
Domestic focus (number of national patents and ratio to total number of patents)
International scope (considering number of different countries in which
inventions have been filed)
Patent analysis which is used to measure innovation is also used by academia,
industries, and policy decision makers.
8.5.2 Benefits of Patent Analysis:
Patent analysis is very useful to entities that are in the process of patent development or
patent filing activity. The major benefits of analyzing patent literature are;
Reduction in cost of production of the substance
Minimized risk factor.
Improved productivity of an organization
Increase in revenue (due to licensing of products in the market)
Valuation and performance measure of an organization
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Breitzman (2002, 2007) has indicated that patent analysis is used for several aspects
however it is not effective in all industries but few industries like telecommunication,
information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemicals, automotive etc are
benefited by analysis. Chemical industries and chemical sciences are leading in patent
filings and it is a good practice to analyze patent literature in this area to understand the
developments in it.
In this research study it was decided to use following indicators and data from various
patent databases, information resources and statistical information published by few
organizations like OECD, CAS, etc. has been analyzed.
1) Global patent growth (for analyzing top patent filing countries)
2) Contribution of top patent filing countries ( Counting patent filings and ranking
them by comparison/contribution)
3) Country comparison and finding top 10 countries
4) Analyzing patent growth in chemical sciences (analysis of only chemical
sciences contribution)
5) Country comparison and analyzing top 10 countries in filing patents in chemical
sciences
6) Comparison of patent assignees and their contribution (analyzing assignee
contribution and progress in the patent filing)
7) Analysis of area contribution by the assignee (analyzing trends in the discipline).
Accordingly the emphasis was focused in activities of patents related to patent growth,
country comparison, assignee contribution and comparison, university filing
comparison, chemical science contribution, trends mapping etc which has been
collected, analyzed and presented in this study. This study leads to some key findings
and based on these findings, analytical trends are developed. Using patent indicators,
few strategies and activities are considered for future development in chemical sciences.
This analytical study is also useful for capacity building of innovators in bringing out
new inventive concepts.
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8.6 Patents: A Tool for S & T Indicators:
Griliches (1990) has indicated that patent statistics help in solving problems related to
technological developments in the area of research and supports indicative economic
growth, rate of technological change, competitive firms, and countries. Patent statistics
provide a measure of innovation output, as they reflect the inventive performance of
countries, regions, technologies, firms etc. Patent literature serves as an indicator to
measure the output of R & D, its productivity, structure and development of a specific
technology or industry.
8.6.1 Patent indicators:
Patent indicators are used to map aspects of innovative performance and technological
progress of countries, regions, or certain specific domains and technology fields. The
use of patent statistics for monitoring developments in the field of S & T has been
expanding rapidly in recent years. Patent indicators are regularly published in various
analytical reports or studies especially „OECD Compendium of Patent Statistics and
WIPO statistical Summary‟. Patent based indicators are now more frequently used
because of the close relationship between patents and innovative output. However, there
is no standard output method of calculating indicators from patent data but following
indicators can be used to establish few facts.
County wise patent filings
Assignee indicators
Technological or subject indicators
Resident and non-resident patent filings indicators
University / institute patent filing indicators
Language wise International patent filings
These can also be summarized in following groups
1) Geographical Distribution Indicator: These cover patent counts by priority
filing, counts by inventor‟s country of residence and counts by applicant‟s
country of residence etc.
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2) Reference dates: These are related to countries by applications filed and
countries by patents granted, family patents, etc during specific period.
3) Technological Area: This is also an important indicator to find trends in area of
technology as well as to find emerging trends and obsolete technologies in R &
D.
4) Patent filings at Patent offices and countries (provides an overview of patenting
activity across the world).
Among few available indicators of technological output, (OECD, 2007) patent counts
can be made of different types, within each type, some selectivity may or may not be
exercised. For instance, one can count all applications in one country, or only patents
granted. A patent can be attributed to the applicant (the patentee at the date of
application) or the inventor or the country where it has been filed first (priority). These
indicators are more useful and they help in analyzing growth in patents, country patent
filings, assignee comparison, inventor comparison, university patent comparison,
technological area filing comparison which helps in determining new emerging areas.
8.6.2 Advantages of Patent indicators:
There are many advantages for using indicators in S & T developments as pointed out
by OECD (2007). Patent indicators help in deriving trends; however the major
advantages are,
They have a close link to inventors
They cover broad range of technologies
Rich source of scientific and technical information
Patent data is readily available from patent offices for analysis
However, few drawbacks are also reported in using patents indicators like, many patents
have no industrial applications or substantial value, many inventions are not patented,
the value of patent differs across countries and industries, and differences in patent
234
regulations and laws etc. But patent indicators are generally used for fixing trends.
Patent indicators can also be used in combination with other science and technology
indicators to prepare various policies, measure of innovative output, performances of
the countries and assignees.
Patent analysis and application of indicators brings out emerging technologies and
overall growth of patents. The analysis of data based on regional contribution of patent
filings brought to the notice that European Community, Japan and United States are the
leading regions (called as Triadic Patent Families) and share about 28.4%, 28.8% and
31% respectively during the year 2005 (OCED 2007). Though the patenting activity is
gaining global importance, patent activity is concentrated among few countries. US,
Japan, Germany, Korea, France, Netherland and UK together accounted for 86% of
total OECD Triadic Patent families during 2005. US contributes more in this area but
since 1995, China and Korea are rapidly growing. In this study indicators were used to
analyze patent literature from patent databases and statistical information resources. A
detailed study is reported in the following paragraphs.
Albert (1998 & 1999) is of the opinion that patent-based indicators are extremely useful
for comparing and monitoring trends in technology output of different countries.
However, one has to follow some methodological rules in constructing them if we are to
avoid certain statistical biases. The proposals on patent families, priority years and
country of invention outlined in this article are a step in that direction.
8.7 Patent Analysis
CAS, USPTO, WIPO, Thomson Reuters, EPO, OECD, JPO etc. are the major patent
data resources which are compilers and statistical information analyzers. Hence, these
resources have been used to compile and analyze the data using different patent
indicators. The data presented below is categorized as per the indicator applied for data
analysis.
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8.7.1 Patent Filing Developments: Growth Indicator
This indicator is generally applied to find the contribution made by every country in
filing patents and their annual growth tracking. This indicates development in the global
patent filing. Based on the data conceptual finding could be tracked. For this purpose
the annual growth of patents reported in various information sources have been
analyzed. Few databases and patent offices have been reviewed for this purpose. The
patent filing data at USPTO from 1977 to 2009 is analyzed and grouped in the
following table.
A) United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO)
Table 8.1 USPTO Filings (1977 to 2009)
Patent Filing Years
Total Applications
filed
1977 108377
1978 108648
1979 108209
1980 112379
1981 113966
1982 117987
1983 112040
1984 120276
1985 126788
1986 132665
1987 139455
1988 151491
1989 165748
1990 176264
1991 177830
1992 186507
1993 188739
1994 206090
1995 228238
1996 211013
1997 232424
1998 260889
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Patent Filing Years
Total Applications
filed
1999 288811
2000 315015
2001 345732
2002 356493
2003 366043
2004 382139
2005 417508
2006 452633
2007 484955
2008 485312
2009 482871
(Source: www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/us stat.pdf)
Fig. 8.1 USPTO Filings (1977 to 2009)
This data indicates constant growth in patent filings at USPTO.
B) World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO):
The data compiled for the period from 1985 to 2007 for patent application filings along
with residential and non residential patent filings are reported in the following table.
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Table 8.2 WIPO Patent Applications filing from 1985 to 2007
Year
Total
Patent
Applications
Total resident
Patent
Applications
Non-
Resident
Applications
1985 926008 641513 284495
1986 950983 663158 287825
1987 997195 700429 296766
1988 1013500 701257 312243
1989 1017650 692261 325389
1990 1006044 676951 329093
1991 895680 588567 307113
1992 951860 623023 328837
1993 951586 638130 313456
1994 948316 627,021 321295
1995 1052677 678186 374491
1996 1090926 680043 410883
1997 1156104 704142 451962
1998 1205571 718613 486958
1999 1274081 751044 523037
2000 1383557 830703 552854
2001 1460536 847157 613379
2002 1448420 839803 608617
2003 1491494 870200 621294
2004 1570970 908370 662600
2005 1701179 975673 725506
2006 1788788 1006293 782495
2007 1854416 1051563 802853
(Source: http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/)
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Fig. 8.2 WIPO Patent Applications filing from 1985 to 2007
The data from above table indicates that the applications filed at international level are
also increasing and the developments indicate upward growth in patent filing. It is also
reported that the trends of non-resident patent applicant filings are also increasing than
the residents.
C) Triadic Patent Filing Developments:
Among the various studies dealing with analysis of patent growth, the triadic patent
filing data extracted from WIPO (WIPO
(http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/19/37569377.pdf) has reported the development of
patents in triadic patent countries. The number of triadic patent families and sets of
patents taken at European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO) and US
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), have increased (almost doubled) since the mid-
1980s. Triadic patent families grew at an average rate of 5.8% per year from 1995 and
2000, but the beginning of 21st century was marked by a slowdown, with an average
growth rate of 3% per year till 2005 and has again showed a rising trend after 2005.
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D) OECD and Asian region Patent Filings:
OECD estimated that the number of patents filed in 2005 were about 52,000. Similar
trends were observed from the mid-1990s at the country level, the European Union,
Japan and the United States altogether account for 88% of triadic patent families, with
respective shares of 28%, 29% and 31%. However, OECD countries show contrasting
trends whereas most countries have followed a relatively steady growth rate since 1995.
Spectacular growth has occurred in Asian countries. Germany still ranks third and
Europe‟s strongest inventive performer as measured by patent families. Korea reached
fourth position in 2005, just ahead of France and the United Kingdom, having gained
eight relative positions compared to its 1995 ranking. This upsurge is also observed in
China and India, with respective average growth of 33% and 26% per year from 1995
and 2005. China entered the top 15 patenting countries in 2005. However, the trends
indicated an upward growth 2005 onwards.
E) Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) / Chemical Abstracts(CA):
The CAS data published in terms of patent filing also reported upward trends and in
comparison with the journal articles and patents filings, it is reported that the patent
abstracts covered in the CA file has indicated patent growth since 1977. The growth of
patents reported in year 2006 as compared to 1977 was around 51.27%. This is the
indication of overall growth at a global level in the technological area of chemical
sciences.
8.7.2 Comparison among Counties: Geographical Indicator
The comparison among countries using patent filing count is prominent way to identify
top patent filing countries globally. This is useful for monitoring research oriented
countries in the world and possible technology users. The data extracted using different
resources are detailed below.
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A) WIPO / PCT Data:
WIPO is a major organization in development monitoring organizations. The trends in
patent filings analyzed for the period 2003 to 2006 is reported below.
Table 8.3 PCT International Applications filed among top countries
Country / Year 2003 2004 2005 2006
2006
Percentage
2006
Percentage
growth
United States 41030 43351 46810 51197 34.24 9.4
Japan 17414 20264 24869 27013 18.1 8.7
Germany 14662 15214 15984 16732 11.2 4.7
France 5171 5184 5748 6244 4.2 8.6
Korea 2949 3558 4688 5943 4 26.8
United Kingdom 5206 5027 5084 5092 3.4 0.2
Netherlands 4479 4284 4500 4539 3 0.9
China 1295 1706 2503 3950 2.6 57.8
Switzerland 2861 2898 3291 3594 2.4 9.2
Canada 2271 2104 2318 2571 1.7 10.9
Australia 1680 1837 1996 2001 1.3 0.3
Eeuropean
Patent
Office 43275 44066 47360 50090 33.5 5.8
All Others 5287 5743 6189 6757 4.5 9.2
(Source: WIPO Statistics 2007: PCT Statistical Indicators Report December 2007)
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Fig. 8.3 PCT International Applications filed among top countries (2003 to 2006)
Fig. 8.4 PCT International Applications filed among top countries (2006 Percentage and
Percentage growth)
The data indicates that trends in patent filings are increasing and all the leading
countries have indicated upward trends in patent filings. Though the growth in filing is
noticed, it is uneven as compared to previous year in 2004 where the growth was 6.4%,
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in 2005 it was 11.5%, in 2006, 9.4% and in 2007 it was estimated to 4.4%. (WIPO,
2007).
Developing countries are filing patents on a large scale over the years. Therefore, an
effort was made to study the patent filings in developing countries like Korea, China,
India, Singapore, etc. The following table reviews the growth in patent filing reported
by PCT/WIPO in developing countries from 2003 to 2006.
Table 8.4 PCT International Applications among Developing Countries (2003 to 2006)
Country /
Year 2003 2004 2005 2006
2006
Percentage
2006
Percentage
growth
Korea 2949 3558 4688 5943 4 26.8
China 1295 1706 2503 3950 2.6 57.8
India 764 724 679 831 0.6 22.4
Singapore 282 431 443 476 0.3 7.4
South Africa 357 411 358 424 0.3 18.4
Brazil 219 278 271 333 0.2 22.9
Mexico 131 118 141 168 0.1 19.1
(Source: WIPO Statistics 2007: PCT Statistical Indicators Report December 2007)
Fig. 8.5 PCT International Applications among Developing Countries (2003 to 2006)
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Fig. 8.6 PCT International Applications among Developing Countries (2006 Percentage
and Percentage Growth)
From the data it is apparent that the trend in developing countries for filing of
international patents is also rising and although Korea and China are covered in the
developing countries, their share is much higher than the developed countries. India
holds third position among the developing countries and in future can progress and can
be listed among the top patent filing countries of the world because the growth from
2005 in Indian patent filing is excellent.
The PCT data extracted from the WIPO database is tabulated below. The data indicates
top 15 countries as per the reported patent filings and data is covered from 2004 to 2007
and the estimated data for the year 2008 is considered. This is generalized patent filing
data among top 15 countries.
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Table 8.5 PCT International Applications top 15 countries.
Country 2004 2005 2006 2007
2008
estimate
2008
percent
growth
USA 43351 46810 50941 54086 53521 0.327
Japan 20264 24869 27033 27744 28744 0.175
Germany 15214 15984 16732 17818 18428 0.113
Republic of
Korea 3558 4688 5944 7061 7908 0.048
France 5184 5748 6242 6568 6867 0.042
China 1706 2503 3951 5441 6089 0.037
United Kingdom 5027 5084 5090 5539 5517 0.034
Netherlands 4284 4500 4529 4355 4349 0.027
Sweden 2851 2883 3316 3657 4114 0.025
Switzerland 2898 3291 3577 3778 3832 0.023
Canada 2104 2318 2566 2847 2966 0.018
Italy 2189 2349 2716 2946 2939 0.018
Finland 1672 1893 1845 1995 2119 0.013
Australia 1837 1996 2001 2053 2028 0.012
Israel 1227 1454 1589 1746 1882 0.011
All Others 9245 10326 11084 12252 12497 0.076
Total 122610 136688 149156 159886 163800
(Source: WIPO patent database.)
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Fig. 8.7 PCT International Applications top 15 countries (2004 to 2008)
Fig. 8.8 PCT International Applications top 15 countries (2008 Percentage growth)
246
The analysis indicates growth of patents in various countries. USA, Japan, Germany,
Korea, France, China are leading nations in filing patents.
The information posted on the site http://international trade.suit101.com provided the
analysis of the 15 prominent countries during 2004 and 2005 based on national and
international filings at PCT.
Table 8.6 Top 15 countries patent filing at PCT in 2004
Serial no. Country Application filling
1 Japan 2884
2 South Korea 2189
3 USA 645
4 Germany 587
5 Australia 479
6 New Zealand 402
7 Finland 385
8 Denmark 347
9 Norway 335
10 UK 320
11 Sweden 308
12 Austria 275
13 France 227
14 Israel 227
15 Switzerland 217
(Source: http://international trade.suit101)
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Table 8.7 Top 15 countries‟ contribution in patent filing in 2005
Serial No. Country No of patent filling
1 USA 46,115
2 Japan 28,829
3 Germany 16,002
4 France 5,736
5 UK 5,103
6 South Korea 4,686
7 Netherlands 4,530
8 Switzerland 3,264
9 Sweden 2,858
10 China 2,501
11 Italy 2,232
12 Canada 2,322
13 Australia 1,999
14 Finland 1,890
15 Israel 1,456
(Source: http://international trade.suit101)
This analysis indicates that the top patent filing countries at global level are US, JP, KR,
CN, DE, FR,GB, NL, CA etc.
Thomson Reuters (2007) reviewed patent activity in 2007 and analyzed the trends from
world‟s G 8 Countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA,
China and South Korea). The analysis indicates that the patent activity has increased
over the last 5 years. It has increased by 21%, between 2003 and 2006. Japan, China
and US are the top patent filing countries among the G 8 countries. The academic
innovations have highest ratio in China, Japan and US (25% of total patenting activity)
B) USPTO:
Using patent analysis and trends developed by USPTO „patent filing granted to the
different patent offices by USPTO‟, the data has been extracted and analyzed for the
period from 1963 to 1994 and from 1995 to 2008. The data is reported in the following
table.
248
Table 8.8 USPTO Patents: Year wise patent distributed. (1963 to 2008)
249
Fig. 8.9 USPTO Patents: Year wise patent distributed. (1963 to 2008)
This data analysis clearly point out the growth in patent literature and is treated as a
valuable source of information. From the data it is also reported that major patent filing
countries as per the USPTO data which rank at leading positions are : US, Japan,
Germany, UK, France, Canada, Korea, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, USSR, China,
India etc and there is an upward trend in patent filing in these countries. The data has
also been useful in selecting the top patent filing countries for this research study.
8.7.3 Technology Monitoring: Technology Trend Indicator
This is an essential analysis for finding trends in particular subject area or technology.
The leading subject area and new emerging areas could be predicted due to this
250
analysis. The data collected from various resources are presented below. As a specific
subject in study, the field of chemical sciences has been selected for technology
monitoring purposes. The patent statistical data resources like Thomson Reuters,
USPTO, CAS, WIPO, etc. and chemical patent filings from the patent databases like
CA, Delphion, INPADOC, USPTO etc are studied properly and the collected data is
listed in tabular form. This data is used for the analysis of patenting trends and
predicting the activity in chemical sciences.
A) Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) / Chemical Abstracts (CA):
The best source of finding global patent filing information in chemical science is
„Chemical Abstracts‟. The patent data compilation is published in CAS data summary
published by ACS/CAS every year. The data is based on abstracts included in the CA
database and grouped into periodical articles, patent literature and books. The
development per year is recorded to find the trends in chemical sciences. The data is
grouped into five year compilation for proper analysis. The trends are set up by
analyzing the data in chemical sciences.
The statistical compilation of the abstracts covered in Chemical Abstracts for major
resources like periodical articles, patents and books along with their percentage
contributions is detailed in the following table. This data is compiled from technical
summary published by CAS, USA in 2007. This data covers from its inception of
service i.e. for the period from 1907 to 2007. The detailed comparative chart is given in
Appendix 2.
251
Table 8.9 Patent filings in Chemical Sciences 1907-2007
Period Total abstracts Papers/Articles % Patents % Books %
1907-1911(v1-5) 81,702 59,761 73.15 20,085 24.58 1,856 2.27
1912-1916(6-10) 1,10,028 73,952 67.21 33,209 30.18 2,867 2.61
1917-1921(11-15) 84,843 59,991 70.71 21,192 24.98 3,660 4.31
1922-1926(16-20) 1,33,391 1,02,154 76.59 26,549 19.9 4,688 3.51
1927-1931(21-25) 2,28,793 1,47,331 64.38 75,825 33.14 5,687 2.48
1932-1936(26-30) 3,15,169 1,96,433 62.33 1,10,630 35.1 8,106 2.57
1937-1941(31-35) 3,06,545 2,12,075 69.08 87,225 28.4 7,745 2.52
1942-1946(36-40) 2,06,265 1,44,209 69.92 55,468 26.89 6,588 3.19
1947-1951(41-45) 2,58,856 2,05,093 79.23 46,797 18.08 6,966 2.69
1952-1956(46-50) 4,04,571 3,37,971 83.52 57,450 14.22 9,150 2.26
1957-1961(51-55) 6,29,799 5,01,442 79.62 1,19,326 18.95 8,931 1.43
1962-1966(56-65) 9,48,134 7,90,158 83.34 1,43,385 15.12 14,591 1.54
1967-1971(66-75) 13,13,005 11.04,092 84.09 1,94,390 14.8 14,523 1.11
1972-1976(76-85) 17,72,194 14,57,546 82.25 2,93,945 16.59 20,703 1.16
1977-1981(86-95) 22,01,692 18,63,340 84.63 3,04,700 13.84 33,652 1.53
1982-1986(96-105) 23,02,471 18,97,570 82.41 3,78,469 16.44 26,432 1.15
1987-1991(106-115) 24,82,482 20,21,894 81.45 24,40,721 17.75 19,867 0.8
1992-1996(116-125) 31,30,955 25,63,553 81.88 5,48,038 17.5 19,364 0.62
1997-2001(126-135) 35,99,227 29,15,780 81.01 6,60,179 18.34 23,268 0.65
2002-2006(136-145) 44,80,761 34,64,481 77.12 9,98,717 22.27 27,563 0.61
2007(146-147) 10,86,941 8,16,778 75.14 2,65,637 24.44 4,526 0.42
(Source: CAS Technical Summary 2007)
The analysis of the data presented in the table indicates that, there is a growing trend of
patent filings in chemical sciences. The periodical articles are contributing heavily and
it is followed by patent literature. However the other publications usage especially
252
books are decreasing year by year as compared to periodical articles and patent
literature. It is clear that trends in the patent filing are growing and also gaining
importance since 1977 and since 2007 the growth is increasing by 25% approximately.
The growth of patents reported in the year 2006 as compared to 1997 was around
51.27%.
B) International Patent Documentation Center ( INPADOC):
INPADOC (EPIDOS) is a patent database developed by INPADOC and now managed
by the European Patent Office and known as EPIDOS. This patent database is very
useful and covers the global patent information in all the subject disciplines. However
using the IPC code viz. C= Chemical Sciences and C07 = Organic Chemistry,
subjective patent data can be isolated from this database. Using these criteria the
database has been searched and the data is presented in the following table for the
period from 2005 to 2008.
253
Table 8.10 Chemical Patents filing (1964 to 2007)
Country / Year 1964-1976 1977-1986 1987-1996 1997-2007
All
( Complete
Knowledge)
4268485 8420041 11504565 19486806
All ( Chemistry) 1056996 1879649 2215849 3545836
All
Organic Chemistry(
US,EP,
WO,JP,DE,INPADOC)
422077 660885 752574 1244075
INPADOC 302371 477633 423689 683604
US 60357 56928 71874 114027
European 0 10655 29639 44487
Japanese 41733 113158 148242 163735
WIPO 0 2511 33194 159710
German 17616 31981 45986 78512
ARIPO (AP) 1 20 621 4746
EAPO (EA) 0 18 6746
OAPI 492 665 632 2621
AT 12409 18094 18170 31121
AU 8017 23803 51681 98818
BE 31234 12236 1033 577
CA 6069 21327 38235 71754
CH 22249 13220 1503 247
CN 0 550 14688 98653
CS/CZ 3432 11589 10414 11739
DK 9749 25418 22945 16222
ES 11948 54042 21956 29033
FI 3618 15747 24080 5067
FR 50282 41468 13353 10458
GB 35736 40368 11145 9680
HU 3007 8067 22333 27873
IN 631 1400 1696 2030
IT 3366 13614 6867 3139
KR 0 5618 11827 28078
NL 34342 16891 4512 2955
NZ 0 4339 9212 11671
PL 2571 12606 8289 14952
RO 1158 4730 1387 1043
RU / SU 8427 15206 10041 16554
ZA 6859 12984 14318 11888
(Source: INPADOC Patent database search (IPC)
254
Fig. 8.10 Chemical Patents filing (1964 to 2007)
255
The analysis of data from the above table points out the constant level of growth in
chemical patents during the period from 1964 to 2007. The country wise development
in relation with patent filings 1997 to 2007, were ranked and the ranking of countries
are Japan (JP), 1,63,735; World patent applications (WIPO/PCT) 1,59,710 ; USA (US)
1,14,027; Australia (AU) 98,818; China (CN), 98,653;Germany (DE) 78,512; Canada
(CA) 71,754; European countries (EP) 44,487; Spain (ES) 29,033; Korea (KR) 28,078 ;
Hungary (HU) 27,873; Russia (RU) 16,554; France (FR) 10458; New Zealand (NZ)
11,671; United Kingdom (GB) 9680 etc. These are the prominent countries contributing
to chemical sciences. Since the ranking of countries is based on patents filings, the
ranking of countries varies every year. However these courtiers are maintaining
constant growth. Hence, based on this data the top ten patent filing countries have been
isolated and selected for research study. The data has been searched form the
INPADOC (using Delphion) database, this is a general commercial database and hence
all the chemical patents might not be covered in this patent database. However the trend
reported in this table varies as per the coverage of the database.
C) USPTO:
Statistical data which is related to patent filings in chemical sciences has been extracted
from USPTO (1977- 2006). The country wise filings of the chemical patents among
various countries are detailed in the following table.
256
Table 8.11 Patents granted by USPTO for prominent countries from 1977 to 2006
(Source: USPTO patent statistics 2007. www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/us
stat.pdf)
From the data it is understood that in area of chemical sciences, USA (US) 34061;
Japan (JP) 6302; Germany (DE) 2462; Korea (KR) 1185, France (FR) 950; Great
Britain UK (GB) 889; Canada (CA) 715; India (IN) 231 are the leading countries as per
the USPTO database. Although the countries‟ contribution is different, ranking of
countries is almost same in all the databases considered in this study.
257
D) WIPO
Total numbers of patent applications in chemical sciences (covering all broad subject
areas) reported by WIPO (2008 & 2009) for the period from 2001 to 2006 are analyzed
below using the WIPO Statistical review 2009.
Table 8.12 Patent filings by field of technology, 2001-2006
Chemical Sciences 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 %
Organic fine
chemistry 64,170 64,026 59,622 59,835 63,317 63,981
-
0.80%
Biotechnology 45,573 47,576 44,632 41,993 40,861 43,047
-
3.80%
Pharmaceuticals 69,355 69,160 66,050 68,650 74,254 83,521 3.10%
Macromolecular
chemistry,
polymers 41,842 38,615 36,656 36,108 38,137 37,086
-
1.30%
Food chemistry 21,296 23,535 24,850 23,110 24,653 25,610 1.70%
Basic materials
chemistry 51,058 48,418 46,106 45,508 48,040 49,441
-
0.40%
Materials,
metallurgy 39,882 37,451 36,813 35,579 37,705 38,988 0.20%
Surface
technology,
coating 41,086 39,478 39,894 41,208 42,437 41,491 1.70%
Micro-structural
and nano-
technology 3,425 2,770 2,994 2,967 3,357 3,332 5.20%
Chemical
engineering 51,319 48,148 46,306 44,906 44,845 44,580
-
2.30%
Environmental
technology 29,889 28,718 28,636 28,365 28,650 27,903
-
0.50%
(Source: WIPO (2009)
http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/pdf/wipo_pub_941.p
df))
258
Fig. 8.11 Patent filings by field of technology, 2001-2006
From the comparison of data it is observed that among the chemical sciences, trends are
clearly set and growth in discipline. The emerging trends are reported in the field of
nano technology, environmental technology, pharmaceuticals and drugs in which the
growth is prominent. However every year the trends are shifting and the contribution of
the patents is also varying.
The compilation of data from PCT applications from 2003 to 2006 is narrated in the
following table. The table represents the development of PCT International
Applications filed as per the IPC code which represents technology trends in S & T.
259
Table 8.13 IPC Code Application filing at PCT during 2003 to 2006 (Technical Field
Filing)
IPC Code
Application
filings 2003 2004 2005 2006
2006
Percentage
2007
filings
(Predicted)
2007
Percent
age
A61K 9923 9420 11124 13750 9.9 13901 9.3
G06F 5403 5343 7372 8525 6.1 9499 6.3
H04L 5332 4857 5268 5974 4.3 7068 4.7
H01L 3851 3947 4624 5928 4.3 6400 4.3
G01N 4980 4553 5127 5302 3.8 5334 3.6
C07D 4012 4284 4615 5063 3.6 4917 3.3
A61B 3168 3414 3766 4454 3.2 4596 3.1
C12N 3636 3252 3420 3670 2.6 3561 2.4
H04N 2867 2598 3076 3507 2.5 3938 2.6
C07K 3972 3212 2742 2487 1.8 2460 1.6
(Source: WIPO Statistics 2007: PCT Statistical Indicators Report December 2007)
IPC Codes used in table 8.13:
A61K Preparations for the medical , Dental or Toilet Purpose
G06F Electric Digital Data Processing
H04L Transmission of Digital Information
H01L Semiconductor Devices, Electric, Solid state devices
G01N Analysis Materials by determining chemical or physical properties
C07D Heterocyclic compounds
A61B Diagnosis, Surgery, Identification
C12N Microorganizms or Enzymes
H04N Pictorial Communication e.g. Television
C07K Peptides
260
Fig. 8.12 IPC Code Application filing at PCT during 2003 to 2006 (Technical
Field Filing)
The analysis of WIPO data as per the PCT filings indicates top ten technical fields as
per the application filings during the period from 2003 to 2006. The above table
illustrates the top technical subject fields. In this organic chemistry, peptides,
microorganisms and enzymes are in leading positions along with other technological
areas. This indicates that chemical sciences are prominent in R & D.
The analysis of language wise distribution of applications filed at PCT is detailed in the
following table.
261
Table 8.14 Language wise coverage of PCT applications 2003 to 2006
Language
wise
Application
filings 2003 2004 2005 2006
2006
Percentage
2007
filings
(Predicted)
2007
Percentage
English 73471 77842 84650 91597 61.3 91883 59.6
Japanese 15866 18263 22150 24292 16.2 25303 16.4
German 14487 14603 15867 16730 11.2 17724 11.5
French 4529 4504 4867 6168 3.5 4759 3.1
Korean 1750 2093 2668 3540 2.4 4592 3
Chinese 1036 1428 2232 3476 2.3 4818 3.1
Spanish 850 844 1070 1165 0.8 1183 0.8
Italian 581 632 707 1021 0.7 1350 0.9
Russian 601 582 689 750 0.5 642 0.4
Dutch 513 501 485 501 0.3 483 0.3
Swedish 706 640 547 439 0.3 483 0.3
Finnish 404 354 429 415 0.3 505 0.3
Norwegian 187 143 175 172 0.1 181 0.1
Danish 134 126 111 138 0.1 121 0.1
(Source: WIPO Statistics 2007: PCT Statistical Indicators Report December 2007)
Fig. 8.13 Language wise coverage of PCT applications 2003 to 2006
262
From the above statistics, though the English Language is contributing 60%, other
languages also need to be considered. The trend indicates that the Japanese, German,
French, Korean and Chinese are more used. The remaining languages Hungarian,
Czech, Portuguese are also contributing to PCT.
8.7.4 Ranking of Patent Filing Countries and Identifying Major Players:
There are many information resources available, which provide the listing of Top patent
filing countries based on statistical information. Short (2005), in the business issue of
Chemical Engineering News, recorded the top 50 Global Chemical Industries in the
year 2005. This data is based on chemical production, business and marketing
strategies. The listing of the 50 global chemical industries ranked is given below.
1) Dow Chemical US 2) BASF Germany 3 ) Du Pont US 4 ) Royal Dutch 5) Shell U.K.
6) Exxon Mobile US 7) Total France 8 ) Bayer Germany 9) China Petroleum &
Chemical , China 10) Mitsubishi Chemical Japan 11) SABIC Saudi Arabia 12)
Degussa Germany 13) Formosa Plastics Group Taiwan 14) Akzo Nobel Netherlands
15) Huntsman Corp. U.S. 16) Mitsui Chemicals Japan 17) Air Liquide France18)
ICI U.K. 19) Sumitomo Chemical Japan 20) Toray Industries Japan 21) DSM
Netherlands 22) Equistar Chemicals 23) Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Japan 24)
Chevron Phillips US 25) Shin–Etsu Japan 26) General Electric US 27) Lanxessh
Germany 28) PPG Industries U.S. 29) Asahi Kasei, Japan 30) BOC England 31) Air
Products U.S 32) Ineos Groupi U.K 33) Clariant Switzerland 34) ENI Italy 35)
Praxair U.S.36) Eastman Chemical U.S. 37) Reliance Industries India 38) Rhodia ,
France 39) Sasol, South Africa 40) Solvay Belgium 41) Rohm and Haas U.S. 42)Yara
Norway 43) LG Chemk South Korea 44) Syngenta Switzerland 45) Lyondell
Chemical U.S. 46) Borealis Denmark 47) Ciba Specialty Chemical Switzerland 48)
Teijin Japan 49) Nova Chemicals Canada 50) Celanese US
It is found that US, Germany, UK, France, China, Japan, Netherlands are the leading
countries and major players are also reported above. These may change every year as it
263
depends upon the patent filing data which is fluctuating year by year. Hence trend
during a particular year is considered for finding the top countries and assignees.
The major patent filing countries and assignees as per the PCT WIPO data are listed
below. This is extracted from the WIPO statistical analysis during the year 2008.
Table 8.15 PCT Applicants in 2008
2008
Ranking Applicant's Name
Country
of Origin
PCT
applications
published in
2008
Increased
over 2007
1 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. CN 1737 372
2 PANASONIC CORPORATION JP 1729 -371
3 KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. NL 1551 -490
4 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA JP 1364 366
5 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH DE 1273 127
6 SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT DE 1089 -555
7 NOKIA CORPORATION FI 1005 180
8 LG ELECTRONICS INC. KR 992 273
9 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL) SE 984 387
10 FUJITSU LIMITED JP 983 275
11 QUALCOMM INCORPORATED US 907 -67
12 NEC CORPORATION JP 825 199
13 SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA JP 814 112
14 MICROSOFT CORPORATION US 805 -40
15 MOTOROLA, INC. US 778 -46
16 BASF SE DE 721 -101
17 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION US 664 58
18 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY US 663 -106
19 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. KR 639 41
264
2008
Ranking Applicant's Name
Country
of Origin
PCT
applications
published in
2008
Increased
over 2007
20 E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY US 517 13
21 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION JP 503 -12
22 PIONEER CORPORATION JP 497 -114
23 HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. US 493 88
24 CONTINENTAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT DE 485 435
25 THOMSON LICENSING FR 461 45
26
ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
RESEARCH INSTITUTE KR 443 155
27 THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY US 412 -163
28 NXP B.V. NL 407 166
29 SONY ERICSSON MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS AB SE 402 42
30 BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERÄTE GMBH DE 393 -5
31 INTEL CORPORATION US 377 -246
32 INA-SCHAEFFLER KG DE 374 143
33 DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. JP 367 88
34 THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA US 343 -21
35 HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. US 339 -181
36 RENAULT S.A.S. FR 335 101
37 KYOCERA CORPORATION JP 332 101
38 ZTE CORPORATION CN 329 94
39 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY US 326 -112
40 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED US 308 96
41 SONY CORPORATION JP 307 72
42 EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY US 299 -31
43 BAKER HUGHES INCORPORATED US 295 128
265
2008
Ranking Applicant's Name
Country
of Origin
PCT
applications
published in
2008
Increased
over 2007
43 NOVARTIS AG CH 295 -47
45 APPLE COMPUTER, INC. US 289 205
46
FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR
FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V. DE 287 58
47 DOW GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES INC. US 285 130
48 NIKON CORPORATION JP 284 40
49 THE BOEING COMPANY US 281 100
50 CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA JP 280 15
(Source: PCT/WIPO Database)
The countries contributing patents through PCT/ WIPO are almost same but the players
taking part are changed. This indicates the developments in the patent filing countries
and patent assignees. The data from PCT has less coverage of chemical subject. But in
other areas the same countries are taking part in the patent filings like CN, JP, US, NL,
DE, KR and FR.
IFI prepared a list of top 35 major patent assignees based on patent application filings
during the year 2008.
266
Table 8.16 Top 35 major patent assignees based on the patent application filings during
the year 2008. (Source: www.ificlaims.com)
Rank Company Name
2008
Patents
1
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
MACHINES CORP 4186
2 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR 3515
3 CANON K K JP 2114
4 MICROSOFT CORP 2030
5 INTEL CORP 1776
6
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO
LTD JP 1745
7 TOSHIBA CORP JP 1609
8 FUJITSU LTD JP 1494
9 SONY CORP JP 1485
10
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT CO
L P 1424
11 HITACHI LTD JP 1313
12 MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC 1250
13 SEIKO EPSON CORP JP 1229
14 GENERAL ELECTRIC CO 912
15 FUJIFILM CORP JP 869
16 RICOH CO LTD JP 857
17 INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG DE 814
18 LG ELECTRONICS INC KR 805
19 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC 757
20 HONDA MOTOR CO LTD JP 747
21 SIEMENS AG DE 724
22
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO LTD
TW 719
23 DENSO CORP JP 708
24 CISCO TECHNOLOGY INC 704
25 BROADCOM CORP 643
26 HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC 619
27 NOKIA AB OY FI 608
SILVERBROOK RESEARCH PTY LTD AU 608
29 SHARP K K JP 603
30 NEC CORP JP 547
31 BROADCOM CORPXEROX CORP 529
32 LG PHILIPS LCD CO LTD KR 2 524
33 RENESAS TECHNOLOGY CORP JP 513
34 SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC 509
35
KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N V
NL 497
267
ICIS (www.icis.com) listed top global chemical companies, viz. BASF, Sow,
Exxonmobil, Shell, Lyondellbassel, Sabic, Sinopec, Mitsubishi Chemicals and Dupont.
The Wikipedia ( ww.en.wilipediaorg/wiki/) also listed major patent filing companies
which include Akzonobel, Sumitomo Chemicals, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Bayer, Asahi
Kasei, etc.
From the above data the countries have been compiled based on patent filing data and
ten countries have been selected for analysis purpose in the present research study.
These include „Japan, USA, Germany, UK, France, Korea, Canada, India, Netherlands,
China, Australia, and Russia‟.
Among these prominent selected patent filing countries in chemical sciences, the major
companies i.e. „patent assignees‟ were compiled based on the patent filing counts and
are listed below.
A) Major Chemical Industries (Patent Assignees).
USA: Dow chemical , Exxon Mobil, DuPont, Lyondell Chemical, Rohm and Hass,
Eastman Chemicals, GE PPG Industries, Lubrizol, Portia LLC,
Germany: BASF, Bayer, Degussa, Henkel KGAA, Wacker Chemie, Altana AG,
Gruenthal GMBH.
UK: Shell, BP Chemicals, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), BOC, Johnson Matthey,
PLC
France: Total, Rhodia Chemie, L‟oreal SA, Arkema France, Ciphalon , Nicox SA
China: China Petroleum and Chemical, Nanjing Zongshi Chemicals Co.,
Tianjin Dek Chemical Co Ltd, Avexa Ltd.
Japan: Mitsubishi Chemical Corp, Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd,
Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Shin Etsu Chemical, Asahi Kasei Chemicals, Teijin,
Toray industries, Nissan Chemical Industries ltd., Nippon Chemical industry, UBE
Industries, Showa Denko, Kao Corporation, Japan Synthetic rubber, Idemitsu Kosan,
268
Daiichi Sankyo, Toyama Chemical Company, Ihara Chemical company, Fujitsu
Limited
Netherland: Akzo Nobel, DSM, Furanix Technologies, Crucell Holland B V, Plus
Chemicals B V, Synthon BVAlbemarle Netherlands, Unilever, Keygene N V
India: Relience Industries, BIOCON Ltd. Hindustan Unilever, Advinus, Reddy‟s
laboratories, Vinati Organics, , Hylan India Pvt. ltd, Atul Ltd., BASF India, Gharda
Chemicals, Jubilant Organosys, Tata Chemicals, United Phosphorus, Pidilite, Aditya
Birla Chemicals, Alkyl Amines , Arvinda Chemicals, Ciba India Ltd, Deepak Nitrite,
Godrej, Hikal Ltd, HOCL, L G Polymers, Jay Chemicals, Clariant Chemicals
Switzerland: Clariant(BASF), Syngenta, Ciba Specialities, Lonza Group ltd, ,
Canada: Nova Chemical, Merck Frosst Canada, Canada Chemical Corporation,
Methylgene, Angiochem Inc. Neuraxon Inc.
Korea South: LG Chem, National Plastic, Ace Chemical, Hanwha Chemical, KCC
Chemical, Namhae Chemical Corporation, Seohan Chemical, Soogang Chemical, Tas
Chemicals, Amorepacific Corp, Cheil Industries Inc., Hyosung Corporation, Anigen Co
ltd, SK Chemicals, Panagene Inc
Austarlia: Alchemia Ltd, Avexa ltd, Hexima Ltd, CSL Ltd, Vegenics Ltd.
B) Pharmaceutical Companies
USA: Pfizer (Wyeth), Johnson and Johnson, Abbott, Merck & co, Bristol Meyers, Eli
Lilly and Co, Amgen, Genentech, Baxter, P and G, Allergan, Biogen Idec, Mylan, 3M
Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cephalon, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Barr
Pharmaceuticals, Bausch and Lomb, Celgene Corp., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Exxon
Mobil, King Pharmaceuticals, Watson Pharma, Forest Laboratories,
Germany: Boehringer, Merck KGaA, Bayer, Schwarz Pharma AG,
UK: Glaxo Smith Kline, AstraZeneca, Genix Pharma,
269
France: Sanofi Aventis, Beaufour Ispen International, Aventis Pharma SA
China: SINOPHARM,
Japan: Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi Sankyo, Chugai Pharma, Taiho Pharma,
Astellas Pharma, Eisai, Mitsubishi Pharma, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, Shionogi,
Kissei Pharmaceutical Co ltd,
Netherlands: Akzo nobel,
Switzerland: Hoffman La Roche, Novartis, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd,
India: Ajanta Pharma, Cenataur Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, Reddy‟s lab, Lupin, Macleods
Pharmaceuticals, Meyer Organics, Orchid Pharma, Ranbaxy, Torrent Pharma, Wings
Pharma, Zydus Cadila Healthcare, Watson Pharma ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Dabur
Pharma Ltd, Hetero drugs, Cipla limited, Ranbaxy, Orchid Research Lab, BICON Ltd,
Cadila Health care, Lupin Ltd, Glenmark, Alembic, US Vitamins, Unichem
Laboratories, Wockhardt Research Center, Ajanta Chemicals
C) Indian Chemical Companies:
Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy‟s lab, Cipla, Sun Pharma industries, Lupin Labs, Aurobindo
Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, IPCA Laboratories, Aventis Pharma, Glaxo Smith Kline
Pharma.
D) Universities:
USA: University of California, University of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of
technology, Stanford University, University of Michigan, Yale university, Columbia
University, University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina University State, Duke
University, John Hopkins University, Harvard University, Ohio State University,
University of Colorado
Germany: Universitat Wurzburg, Phillips Universitat, Universitat Heidelberg,
Universitat Berlin, Universitat Zukoln
270
UK: Kings College London, Queen‟s University of Belfast, Univ of Shefield, The
notingham Univ, Univ Edinberg, Univ of Manchester, Univ of York, Univ Durham,
Univ of Kent
France: Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Univ de la Mediterranee, Univ
Rennes, Uninivsite Joseph Paurier, Univ de la Rouen, Univ Louis Pasteur, Unniv de
Nantes, Institut Curie, Univ Paris
China: Shanghai Jiatong Univ, Institute of pharmacology and toxicology, East China
Univ of Sci and Tech, Peking Univ
Japan: University of Tokyo, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kyoto University,
Keio University, Nagoya University, Osaka University, Chiba University, Hokkaido
university, Nihon University, Kogoshima University Universitst Munster,
Netherlands: Univ Van Amsterdam, Fudan Univ, Leiden Univ, Wageningen Univ
India: University of Delhi , IIT‟s, Nirma University, University of Punjab, Mumbai
University, University of Pune (few more covered in table 8.18). Along with
universities, IISc Bangalore, IITs, and CSIR (leading organizations in educational
sector) are also considered.
Korea: Korea Research Inst of Chemical Technology, Seoul National University
Industry foundation, Ewha Univ, Sogang Univ, Korea Univ Industry
Canada: National Research Council Canada, University of Alberta, Mcgill Univ,
Queen‟s University at Kingston, Univ of Manitoba, Univ of Western Ontario
Australia: Univ of Sydney, Univ of Queen‟s, Monash Univ, Australian National Univ,
Univ Melbourne, Univ of Wollongong.
8.7.5 Comparison of major assignees (companies).
USPTO has analyzed the global top assignees in the area of chemical sciences giving
the details of applications filed and patents granted which reflect the development of
271
companies from major countries selected for research study. The detailed table has been
given in Appendix 4.
The contribution of various companies has been analyzed using the CA database and
the statistical data has been compiled to track the major innovative assignees of each
country. The contribution in terms of patented and non-patented literature is also
assessed in the study. Chemical Abstracts is used as a source through which data is
evaluated for the period from 1997 to 2007. The data is presented in the table attached
as Appendix 5. Since it is difficult to cover all the industries, randomly selected
companies are evaluated to analyze the progress during the years 2008 and 2009 and
have been reported in the following table.
Table 8.17 Progress of Selected Companies in 2008 and 2009
Assignee Country 2008 2009
Ciba CH 141 93
Hoffman la Roche CH 349 358
Novartis CH 320 238
Synjenta CH 272 181
China Petroleum CN 1419 197
BASF DE 1071 1085
Bayer DE 819 1015
Henkel KGaA DE 472 576
Waker DE 183 188
Boehringer DE 200 211
L‟ oreal FR 456 555
Aurobindo IN 32 22
Cipla IN 30 31
CSIR IN 456 368
Dr Reddy's IN 59 65
Ranbaxi IN 86 95
272
Assignee Country 2008 2009
Torrent IN 20 18
Asahi kasei JP 711 677
Dai Nippon (DIC) JP 926 1226
Idemitsu Kosan JP 426 427
Kao JP 792 1103
Mitsubishi Chemicals JP 533 476
Nissan JP 1063 1008
Showa Denko JP 365 407
Sumitomo Chemicals JP 944 1165
Teijin JP 577 580
Toray JP 1314 1326
Cheil Industries KR 284 390
Hyosung KR 183 131
L G Chem KR 1001 774
Akzo Nobel NL 110 93
DSM NL 321 293
Unilever NL 249 254
Shell UK 331 345
Astra Zeneca UK 256 210
Glaxo UK 272 266
Dow Chemicals US 5 3
Dupont US 900 1021
Eastman Chemicals US 87 101
Exxon Mobil US 317 354
GE US 1631 1632
Rohm and Hass US 128 85
Abbot US 401 465
Allergan US 101 147
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Assignee Country 2008 2009
Bristol Myers US 169 151
Merck US 370 414
Pfizer US 143 81
P & G US 449 420
Wyeth US 204 141
(Source : CA Database)
Fig. 8.14 Progress of Selected Companies in 2008 and 2009.
The analysis of major assignees from top patent filing countries which contribute
maximum in patent filings is given above. These assignees are analyzed further for
contribution in particular area of chemical sciences. It is not possible to analyze the area
of contribution for each assignee independently and hence, few assignees are randomly
selected based on the progress of patent filings during the period from 1997 to 2007 and
2008 to 2009.
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It is noticed that among selected countries and companies, Hoffman la Roche, Novartis,
China petroleum, BASF, Bayer, Henkel, L‟Oreal, Cipla, Dr Reddy‟s, Torrent, Dai
Nippon, Kao, Sumitomo Chemicals, Cheil Industries, Akzo Noble, Shell, DuPont, GE,
Abbott, P and G are at leading positions. Their contribution in the field of chemical
sciences is noticeable.
BASF (DE) has filed patents in the area of Coating materials (158), Polymers and
plastics, Polyurethanes (114), Polyesters (80), and Fungicides (69),filed for preparation,
uses etc. Similarly Bayer (DE), DuPont (US), Asahi Kasei (JP), Hyosung (KR), have
similar areas of development and they are the competitors in the same areas.
China Petroleum (CN), Shell (GB) contribute in the area Petroleum refining, Fuels,
Lubricant oils, Catalyst etc. whereas Henkel (DE), Kao (JP), have the common areas
like surfactants, dyes, polyesters, polyurethanes, perfumes and cosmetics etc. Astra
Zeneca (GB), Boehringer (DE) are filing patents in pharmaceuticals and drugs, drug
delivery agents, pharmaceutical granules, analgesic etc.
In Indian context, Ranbaxy, Lupin, Cipla, Tata Chemicals, Dr. Reddy‟s, Torrent, etc are
progressive in patent filing and the area covered by them is related to drug delivery
systems, pharmaceutical products, drugs, pharmaceutical granules, etc. which are useful
as cure for various diseases.
8.7.6 Comparison of Major Global Universities including Indian Universities.
A comparison of the contribution of various global universities including Indian
universities with respect to patent filing has been analyzed using CA database and
statistical data has been compiled to track progressive universities of each country.
Chemical Abstracts is the main source through which the development in chemical
sciences is covered.
University Filings Comparison Indian V/S Global:
It was also felt necessary to review the developments of patent filing activity in
university sector. Hence a review of patent filing was conducted using the chemical
275
abstract as a tool, which is the more comprehensive and preferred database in the area
of chemical sciences. The detailed data collected is presented in following tables.
Indian and Foreign University Patent Filing Comparison (2005 to 2010 July):
The detailed data collected from Chemical Abstracts database using SciFinder is
presented in the following tables.
Table 8.18 Indian University Patent filings from 2005 to 2010
University
Total Publica
tions Pate nts
Up to 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Country
Mumbai + Bombay University
2971+ 3971 9+2 2 1 1 7
IN=7 US=2
Pune+ poona University
3750 +2129 9
2 (2002) 1 3 2 1
IN=5 US=1 WO=3
Shivaji University 2530 1
1 (1990) IN=1
Delhi University 21637 60
29 2000 5 3 3 8 9 3
IN=36 WO=18 US=4 GB=1 EP=1
Jadavpur University 8334 20
15 (1955) 2 1 1
IN=17 GB=1 FR=1
Madras University 9510 10 1 1 8
IN=9 WO=1
G B Pant University 1425 19
2 (2001) 3 1 8 4 IN=19
Hamdarad University 981 11
1 (2003) 7 1 1 1 IN=11
Amity University 105 19 1 1 2 15
IN=18 GB=1
Banaras Hindu University 17067 12
2 (1978) 2 2 3 1 2
IN=10 US=1 WO=1
North Maharashtra University 476 9
1 (2004) 3 2 2 2 1 IN=9
Punjabi University 1825 7 1 1 3 1 1 IN=7
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University
Total Publica
tions Pate nts
Up to 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Country
Calcutta University 17000 10
24 (
1940) 2 4
IN=8 WO=1 GB=1
Annamali University 5080 6 2 2 1 1
IN=5 WO=1
Bharati Vidhyapeeth University 1342 4 3 1 IN=4
Jawaharlal Nehru University 3295 6
1 (2004) 1 1 1 1 1
IN=3 WO=2 US=1
Saurashtra University 1683 4
2 (2004) 1 1 IN=4
Cochin University 5701 5 2 3 IN=5
Goa University 437 4 2 1 1 IN=4
Osmania University 5712 3
3 (1998-
99) IN=3
Panjab University 8621 4 3 1
IN=2 WO=2
Punjab University 10028 12
1 (1996) 2 2 3 4
IN=9 WO=1 US=2
Hyderabad University 11281 9
3 (1998) 2 1 3
IN=4 US=1 WO=3 FR=1
Anna University 4370 7 1 1 1 3 1
IN=4 WO=3
Bhavnagar University 647 2 2 IN=2
Orissa University 851 2 2 IN=2
Allahabad University 7373 3
1 (2002) 1 1
IN=2 WO=1
Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada + Marathwada University
459+ 1985 2 2 IN=2
Kakatiya University 1924 2 1 1 WO=2
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University
Total Publica
tions Pate nts
Up to 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Country
Karnataka University 1272 2 2 IN=2
Kerala University 3372 4
1 (1974) 1 1 1
IN=3 WO=1
Mysore University 3363 3
1 (2004) 2
IN=1 WO=2
Rajasthan University 7325 1
1 (1978) IN=1
Indian Institute of Technology 33378 422 92 53 63 58 40 65 51
IN=389 JP=1 IL=1 US=9 WO=22
I I Sc 24823 149 61 10 23 18 13 16 8
IN= US=11 WO=29 EP=1 Fr=1 NL=1 GB=1 DE=1
CSIR 9044 6961 4465 470 488 604 456 368 105
(Source : Chemical Abstarcts Database using scifinder)
Table 8.19 Global University patent filing data 2005 to 2010
University Country
Total
Publicat
ions
Pate
nts 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010
July
California
University US 649095 7932 437 570 517 572 547 349
Tokyo
University JP 313725 2543 169 377 491 455 428 292
Texax
University US 317527 3017 188 183 168 243 239 172
Masachusets
University US 75542 698 67 47 48 55 69 34
Yale
University US 95822 699 43 39 34 58 44 18
North
Carolina
University US 139885 1249 79 79 73 75 81 53
Harvard Univ US 49386 1261 61 71 91 119 121 78
278
University Country
Total
Publicat
ions
Pate
nts 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010
July
Ohio State
University US 79024 655 40 47 48 46 57 29
Wurzburg
University DE 33575 81 15 8 11 6 20 10
Heidelberg
University DE 54933 114 11 10 5 15 16 2
Manchester
University GB 56830 283 16 9 9 14 16 10
York
University GB 334133 2631 196 192 207 200 224 120
Kent
University GB 17408 129 8 9 14 14 17 8
Durham
University GB 92262 57 1 13 7 8 3 3
Belfast
University GB 20453 116 13 9 14 16 18 3
Paris
University FR 124719 407 30 26 34 55 69 36
Louis Pastuer
University FR 17559 161 12 17 7 16 14 10
Reness
University FR 11139 84 11 6 5 8 20 6
Shanghai
University CN 149842 7757 936 950 1042 1314 1384 1081
East China
University CN 24782 2527 338 333 273 461 487 384
Peking
University CN 48056 1550 134 169 148 223 353 246
Magill
University CA 65034 437 23 26 94 33 22 10
Koto
University JP 139541 1161 111 268 212 195 150 92
Keio
University JP 31856 662 71 76 87 78 106 53
Nagoya
University JP 87639 790 41 129 154 122 99 76
Osaka
University JP 131368 1471 34 191 335 313 180 134
Chiba
University JP 30040 390 23 66 94 79 64 49
HokkaidoUni JP 72129 783 19 178 154 155 137 96
279
University Country
Total
Publicat
ions
Pate
nts 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010
July
Nihon
University JP 23200 715 91 81 86 67 83 52
Berlin Univ DE 96343 682 17 21 27 44 54 18
Amsterdam
University NL 43959 197 6 13 10 10 15 7
Fudan
University NL 34989 2807 371 270 297 419 286 265
Wageningen
University NL 19919 53 4 3 5 10 14 5
Ewha
University KR 5629 182 5 17 27 45 53 31
Korea
Uiversity KR 314132
1249
1 626 829 1798 2399 3440 2424
Alberta
University CA 67292 321 14 19 21 42 27 15
Manitoba
University CA 26861 166 7 16 20 19 14 3
Ontario
University CA 106573 134 7 12 10 20 14 13
Sydney
University AU 66721 314 16 9 17 23 33 11
Monash
University AU 28125 219 22 14 14 11 10 9
Melbourne
University AU 52422 260 6 10 7 8 16 18
( Source : Chemical Abstarcts Database Using Scifinder)
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Fig. 8.15 Global University patent filing data 2005 to 2010
Random selection of universities both at Indian Universities and global universities has
been made to compare the patent filing pattern among these universities. The
observation of data presented in the above tables reveals that Indian universities are
lagging behind in filing and obtaining the patents both at national and international
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level. The reasons are obvious. The encouragement in the form of funding and
infrastructure developments for innovative research and extended support to patent
filings has hardly made any impact on researcher in the Indian universities. It is worth
noting that the universities selected at global level are very competitive and exceeding
in obtaining patents on innovative research programs. This study substantially presents
the present state of art in the innovation particularly in Indian universities. It is the right
time for concerned authorities to initiate and inspire Indian research community to go
for innovative activities on a larger scale. However, initiation of patent filing in some
universities has been reported but public funded research institutes, organizations like
CSIR, IISc and IITs are major players in filing patents in India. The contribution of
these organizations and universities is more prominent in filing patents in India but very
few patents are also now being filed at global level.
8.8 Significant Findings and Trends from the study:
1) It is observed that US, JP, CN and Korea are the leading countries according to
the number of patents filed. The technological background of these countries is
also marching ahead.
2) Advanced materials, Information Technology, health, chemical, pharmaceutical,
drugs and automotive areas are at leading positions and its growth has been
increased by 100 to 300% over years. Korea, China, Japan and USA are fast
growing countries in the world.
3) The trends in worldwide patent filings: The total number of patent applications
filed around the world has increased steadily, particularly since 1995. There has
been a continuous increase in the number of filings by patent applicants in their
country of residence, but most of the increase in total patent filings is accounted
for non-resident patent filings. The distribution of patent filings worldwide is
very uneven. A small number of countries account for the majority of patent
filings both by residents and non-residents.
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4) Patent offices of Japan and United States of America receive the largest amount
of patent applications followed by North East Asian emerging States, namely
China and the Republic of Korea and large industrialized European States. The
distribution of patent filings by office has changed in recent years, particularly
as China and the Republic of Korea are becoming major industrial economies
and their use of patent system is expanding.
5) Evaluation of worldwide patent filings: Until 1960, growth in worldwide patent
activities was very modest with an average annual growth rate of 1.99% (from
1883 to 1959). During this period, patenting activity was concentrated in four
countries the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom and
France. From 1960, usage of patent system accelerated due to emergence of
users from new states or regions. Filings of patent applications in Japan and
inventor's certificates in the Soviet Union increased noticeably during this
period. Since 1980, the patent offices of the United States of America followed
by the European Patent Office, the Republic of Korea and China have all
experienced significant growth rates in filings. From the patent offices listed
above, the average annual growth rate from 1960 to 2005 was 3.35%. From
2005 onwards patents filing have grown all over the world.
6) The patent offices of Japan and United States of America are the largest
recipients of patent filings followed by China, the Republic of Korea and the
European Patent Office. These five patent offices account for 77% of all patents
filed in 2005, which represents an increase of 2% over 2004 (75%).With an
increase of almost 33% over 2004, the patent office of China became the third
largest recipient of patent filings (up one place) in 2005.
7) OECD Report 2007 pointed out that more than 80% of all PCT applications
were owned by companies / industries and the remaining 20% owned by Govt.,
Universities, NGO‟s, industries, individuals etc. This strategy remained steady
except for the growth in Chinese patent which was 22% in 1996 to 1998 which
rose to nearly 50% in 2007. The proportion of patents owned by universities has
slightly increased since 1990 in Japan, European countries especially France,
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Germany, and Italy. In India 23% of patent applications originate from Govt.
institutions. The university share is poor.
8) Since 1907 CAs has analyzed and indexed patent documents to identify new and
novel developments in chemical sciences for the benefits of scientists. In the last
50 years and especially since mid 1970‟s, patenting activity has shown
increasing trend gradually but 1995 onwards the growth is noteworthy. USPTO,
JPO, WIPO, EPO, GPO (Germany), INPI (French), UKPO are the leading
patent offices in filing patent applications.
From the various analytical studies and contributions in patents, new emerging
technologies in S & T area are listed below.
9) A) Nanotechnology, Nano Materials, since 1990 onwards gained
momentum and since 2000 onwards more patents in this field have been
filed everywhere. However the share of PCT contribution of patents in this
area was more visible in countries like US( 40%), EP(28%), Japan(19%),
Germany(10%), UK and France(4%). The other courtiers Korea,
Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Australia, China, have also contributed. Indian
contribution was only 0.2% in 2004 in this area.
B) Biotechnology is also a growing area and the share of countries as per
PCT data is China (50%), New Zealand (48%)India (41%), China(26%),
Korea (24%). These countries are leading in patent filing in this area. India
was performing very well in this area since 2004.
C) Nuclear energy, wind energy and technology, fuel cells, environmental
technologies, space technology, etc. were the leading areas since 2004.
D) The share of public institutions (Government laboratories and
institutions) in patent filing as per the OECD data indicated that during the
period from 1996 to 1998, contribution was just 9%. This was a rise as
compared to mid 1990‟s which was just 3.5%. The major contributing
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universities in the countries were Australia, China, USA, and UK. Thus
higher education sector initiates contributing to 6%-8%.
10) Patent filings by Institutional Sector: In 2005, 82% of PCT patent filings came
from companies. The share of Public Institutes (Govt. Laboratories, Universities
etc) is 18% as compared to industries; however, university patent filings are not
reflected properly. India (23%) and Singapore (24.2%) reported highest share of
patents owned by Govt. agencies.
11) Patent filing trends reported at the Dolcera Blog pointed out global patent filing
trends and according to the data available on this blog, in 2006 total number of
applications filed across the world were 17, 64,633 and the growth was 4.9 % in
comparison with 2005 (16,81,596). This indicates 91% increase in patent filing
from 1985 to 2006. The countries like China, USA, Netherlands, Czechoslovak
and Korea contributed more to patents, whereas Japan, Russia, Germany France,
and UK indicated less contribution in relation to the earlier patent filings.
(Patent filing trends around the globe. http://www.infringementupdates.com).
However, Japan has improved in patent filings since 2005.
In case of Indian patent filing data, the trends clearly point towards the upward trends of
growth. Ramanna (2002) pointed out that after 1995; the number of patent applications
filed in IPO has increased to almost 150% in 1998. From 1970 to 1995, patent
application in India was steady averaging 3500 patent filings per year. But in 2008 its
growth is raised to 35000.
The WIPO Report on Patent Trends (www.mail.kein.org/pipermail/incom 1/2006 oct/
and http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/ statistics/patents/) records useful information based
on patent filing data for deriving the major patent filing countries of the world. The
following are few trends reported by WIPO till 2005.
1) Five Patent offices USPTO (USA), JAPIO (Japan), EPO, Korea, and China
account for 75% of all the patents filed and 74% of patents granted worldwide.
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2) In 2004, 5.4 million patents were in force worldwide and out of them 81% were
granted to six countries (USA, Japan, UK, Germany, Korea and France).
3) In resident patent filing, Japan leads followed by USA, Korea, Germany, France
and Russia
4) Over a period of 20 years, China is 5th
largest patent office in world (by way of
patent application filed) and Republic of Korea is 4th
largest patent office in the
world.
5) The number of patent applications filed worldwide almost doubled between 1985
to 2004, rising from 8,84,400 to 15,99,000 with an average annual rate of
increase of 4.75% since 1995. This is in line with the average annual growth in
world gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately 5.6%.
6) Since 1995 there has been a continuous increase in the number of filings by
patent applicants in their country of residence, reflecting steady growth in
domestic inventive activity. The bulk of increase in total filings is accounted for
international patent applications. Large increases in foreign patents filings in
countries like Brazil, China, India, Korea, and Mexico reflect the
internationalization of markets and production. Companies seeking new export
markets or investing overseas are keen on protecting their inventions in these
key emerging economies.
WIPO, (WIPO, 2008) points out the following major conclusions based on the patent
statistics and its analysis 2005 onwards.
The total number of applications filed across the world in 2006 estimated to be
1.76 million, with 4.9% increase from previous year 2005.
The patent filings from China, Korea, US increased by 32.1%, 6.6% & 6.7%
respectively. Japan, US, Korea, Germany, China contribute to 76% of total
Patent filing in 2006.
In 2006, approximately more than 727000 patents were filed across the world.
Applicants from JP, US, Korea, Germany received 73% of total patent grants
286
world over. However from 2000 to 2006, the number of patents granted to
applicants from China, Korea grew by 26.5% & 23.2% per year, respectively.
There is an increase in the level of patenting activity in emerging countries. The
patent offices of India, Brazil, and Mexico received large number of filings in
2006.
WIPO has pointed out that there is an increase in patent filings at international
level. The non-resident filings share has increased from 35.7% to 43.6% in
2006.
Many inventions result in findings in multiple offices. About 24% of all patent
families are filed in 2 or more offices. 10% of patent families are filed in 4 or
more offices.
The number of international patent filings filed through PCT in 2007 is about
158400 representing a 5.9% increase from previous year.
WIPO has listed top 20 patent offices based on the filings during 2006,and they
are given rank wise as USA, Japan, China, Korea (Republic of), EPO, Germany,
Canada, Russian Federation, Australia, UK, India, Brazil, France, Hongkong &
China, Singapore, Israel, New Zealand, Thailand, and Norway
Based on the patent filing statistics in 2006, ranking of the countries that are
leading in the world are Japan (514047), US (390815), Korea (172709),
Germany (130806), China (128850), France, UK, Russia, Netherlands,
Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Finland, India, Belgium, Spain, Israel,
Austria, and Denmark
The number of PCT applications from 2000 (93237) to 2006 (147500) has
increased by 7.9%. Korea & China contribution has increased by 26.6% &
56.5% from 2005-2006.
Trends in patent families from 1990 to 2005 increased by 3.6% per year
whereas it has increased to 4.9% by the end of 2006. However, in 2009,
estimated international filings maybe around 155900 (decreased in previous
year). (PCT, 2009).
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Over 35,000 patent applications have been filed at IPO from 2007 to 2008 and
overall 21% increase is noticed in Indian Patent filings compared to previous
year.
8.9 Emerging Areas in Chemical Sciences:
From the analytical study of global patent filings in chemical sciences it is noticed that
the data analysis is very useful in finding emerging subjects and disciplines. The data
evaluated has pointed out following new areas in which more progress has taken place
and filing of patents has increased. Many leading professionals have indicated the
trends and Kadam, (2007) and OECD (OECD, 2007) reported few emerging areas in
chemical sciences as reported below.
Fuels: Biofuels, Fossil Fuels etc
Light Emitting Diodes or Devices (LED) : Energy Conservation, Light Emitting
Organic Molecules, Electro Conducting Organic Molecules
Nuclear Energy
Environmental Science and Chemistry: Green Chemistry, Environmental Safety,
Wind, Geothermal and Solar Energy, Motor vehicle abatement technologies,
Biomass and Waste Technologies
Storage of Energy : Hydrogen Energy
Traditional Knowledge : Ayurvedic Formulations
Bioinformatics
Agricultural Biotechnology
Nanotechnology, Nanomaterials and Nano Particles Technology
Medicinal Chemistry : Anti Cancer, Anti Aids, Anti-aging Drugs, Drug Delivery
System, Nano Drug Delivery system
Biocatalysts
Genetic Engineering
Synthetic biology
Stem Cells
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Space Science
8.9.1 Focal Areas and Special Features of Major Countries:
ICT: (1990 onwards) Growth 8 to 10 %, Top Countries: USA, Japan, and
Germany and followed by them are China, Finland, Japan, Korea, and
Netherlands. Areas: Telecommunications, consumer electronics, computers,
office machinery etc.
Nanotechnology: (1990 onwards) Growth 24.2%, in 1994 to 2004, 12%.
Countries: USA highest and followed by European Countries, Japan, and
Germany. Areas: Electronics, Optoelectronics, medicine, biotechnology,
environment and Energy, nanomaterials.
Biotechnology: (1995 onwards) Growth 1995 to 2003 growth 5.8%, in 2004,
38.9%. Countries: Japan and Germany
Nuclear Energy: (1990 onwards) Growth 33.5%. Countries: Germany, France,
Japan, UK.
Fuel Cells: (1995 onwards) Growth: 1997 and 2004, 10%. Countries: USA main
contributor 1995 to 99 followed by Japan and Germany
Environmental Technologies: (1990 onwards), countries: Japan, Germany, USA,
UK, are the leading in this area.
Space: (1980 onwards) Growth: 1980 to 2005. Countries: USA, France,
Germany, Japan
Emerging Areas: As discussed above from the emerging areas two prominent areas,
Stem Cells and LED are considered for review. They are detailed in the following
sections.
8.9.2 Stem Cells
Stem cells are generally found in all the multi cellular organisms. They have
characteristics of regenerating themselves through mitotic cell division. The research in
stem cell has grown since 1960. In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for
the body and maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, like blood, skin, or
289
intestinal tissues. Since 2000, this topic is developing at a faster pace and filing of
patents has also increased in this area. Patent filings from CA during the period from
1983 to 2007 in this field are as under.
Table 8.20 Patent Applications Filed from 1983 to 2008.
Year
Patent
applications
filed
1983 4
1984 2
1985 2
1986 4
1987 5
1988 7
1989 18
1990 22
1991 20
1992 23
1993 60
1994 81
1995 93
1996 142
1997 184
1998 232
1999 289
2000 333
2001 478
2002 733
2003 894
2004 863
2005 1090
2006 1157
2007 1305
2008 1469
(Source: CA database)
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Fig. 8.16 Patent Applications Filed from 1983 to 2008.
During the period from 1983 to 2008; 9801 patents were filed in this area and the real
progress developed since 2000 onwards and during the period 2000 to 2007; 6853
patents were filed. The growth in 2007 is 291% as compared to 2000. It is also noticed
that the top patent filing countries in this area are USA (1014); China (102); Japan (75);
Germany (67), and Canada (66).
The analysis from the Delphion patent database for the Stem Cells during the period
1964 to 2009 is analyzed in the following table. The total patents retrieved from this
database are 18798 ( 1964 to 2009)
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Table 8.21 Stem Cells: Delphion Patent Filing Data for the Period 1983 to 2007
Year
Patent
Fillings
1983 2
1985 2
1986 22
1987 26
1988 47
1989 74
1990 113
1991 60
1992 101
1993 165
1994 287
1995 214
1996 276
1997 378
1998 375
1999 503
2000 607
2001 1201
2002 1509
2003 1620
2004 1811
2005 1840
2006 2145
2007 2197
( Source : Delphion Patent Database)
Fig. 8.17 Stem Cells: Delphion Patent Filing Data for the Period 1983 to 2007
292
From this table it is noticed that prominent countries in this area are USA(5800),
Japan(1232), China(733), Korea(666), Germany(608), GB (385), Canada(374),
France(281), Australia(201), Netherlands(155), and India(82). It is also found that
among the assignees, major share is from the university filings. The major companies
are Genentech, Amgen and Takeda.
8.9.3 Light Emitting Diode (LED):
LED is also known as Light Emitting Polymer (LEP) and Organic Electro
Luminescence (OEL). The upcoming areas are High Emitting Organic Molecules, Light
Emitting Devices, and Electro conducting Organic Molecules
A review of patents filed in CA in the field of LED (1997-2009) is given below.
In this area there are total 22054 references covering all the forms of literature and
among these, 5339 are patents references (24% patent contribution). During 1997-2007
there were only 2769 patents files all over the world. Though the patent reporting
started during 1967, since 1976, sizable patent filings were reported and since 2000
onwards the development is prominent.
Table 8.22 LED Patent filings 1997 to 2009
Year Patent filings
1997 41
1998 69
1999 112
2000 141
2001 211
2002 211
2003 224
2004 324
2005 366
2006 565
2007 677
2008 742
2009 727
(Source : CA Database using scifinder)
Commercial enterprises, academic Institutes, R & D Organizations are monitoring
research. Patent publications in chemical sciences grew almost 500% due to shift in
policies. Few countries like China developed late in this area but their invention
293
applications rose to 1400%. Even in India from 1998 to 2008, around 300% growths in
patent filings have been reported. The role of information professionals is becoming
more complicated and along with searching the information, an analytical role is also
important to identify value in data collected as an analyst. However a new technique,
patinformatics, helps in analyzing the data. Bailey Wood
(http://www.infonortics.com/chemical/ch03/slides/derwent.pdf) rightly indicated that
patent analysis provides an overview of innovation and a method to track technological
developments by counting patents to identify technology trends, geographical trends
and assignee or company trends.
Chemical sciences trends have been given by Toussant (2002) who has reported an
annual increase in patent filing in the area of chemical sciences which is around 7% to
10%. The data has also revealed that more than 70,00,000 patents were filed in only
chemical sciences from 1907 to 2001. In the period from 2002 to 2006, the patents filed
were 998717 but only in the year 2007, 265637 patents were filed.
Patenting activity is an important yardstick for measuring innovation. In this chapter,
patent analysis has been made to find trends like global patent growth, top patent filing
countries, major patent assignees active in patent filing, growth in chemical sciences,
emerging technological areas, geographical patent distribution etc. Such analytical
indicators help in finding global patent developments, emerging areas, finding white
spaces in research, identify new players in technology, identifying collaborative areas,
strength and weaknesses of individual companies, technological trends mapping, etc.
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