A study of Patent Thickets (1.31Mb) - UK Intellectual Property Office

A Study of Patent Thickets 53
Weighted by #owners &
#classes*
GB
pats EP pats Total
Total #
of EPO
Number
of EPO
Sector shares
Triples per
GB EP
1000
Technology categories
pats pats patents triples@ patents
Elec. machinery, energy 1,741 1,251 2,992 6.5% 4.2% 54,560 1,590 29.1
Audiovisual technology 822 644 1,465 3.1% 2.2% 32,935 3,708 112.6
Telecommunications 1,425 1,434 2,859 5.3% 4.9% 58,402 10,176 174.2
Digital communication 696 816 1,512 2.6% 2.8% 34,759 3,129 90.0
Basic comm processes 347 159 506 1.3% 0.5% 9,709 149 15.3
Computer technology 1,916 1,560 3,476 7.1% 5.3% 58,231 5,251 90.2
IT methods for mgt 327 275 601 1.2% 0.9% 8,499 8 0.9
Semiconductors 316 313 629 1.2% 1.1% 23,555 2,485 105.5
Optics 472 574 1,046 1.8% 1.9% 27,504 1,818 66.1
Measurement 1,504 1,716 3,220 5.6% 5.8% 42,544 278 6.5
Analysis bio materials 175 506 681 0.6% 1.7% 10,815 0 0.0
Control 754 657 1,411 2.8% 2.2% 17,022 52 3.1
Medical technology 1,258 1,887 3,144 4.7% 6.4% 61,448 492 8.0
Organic fine chemistry 231 1,840 2,071 0.9% 6.2% 38,544 941 24.4
Biotechnology 242 1,076 1,317 0.9% 3.6% 29,926 27 0.9
Pharmaceuticals 357 2,241 2,598 1.3% 7.6% 48,661 100 2.1
Macromolecular chem 141 300 441 0.5% 1.0% 20,234 175 8.6
Food chemistry 125 520 645 0.5% 1.8% 9,248 9 1.0
Basic materials chemistry 372 1,174 1,546 1.4% 4.0% 26,212 260 9.9
Materials metallurgy 201 347 548 0.7% 1.2% 16,024 53 3.3
Surface tech coating 372 363 735 1.4% 1.2% 16,492 25 1.5
Chemical engineering 631 854 1,485 2.3% 2.9% 23,179 26 1.1
Environmental tech 384 449 833 1.4% 1.5% 12,054 42 3.5
Handling 1,245 984 2,229 4.6% 3.3% 29,114 56 1.9
Machine tools 508 402 909 1.9% 1.4% 23,146 95 4.1
Engines,pumps,turbine 1,021 1,149 2,170 3.8% 3.9% 31,491 1,673 53.1
Textile and paper mach 288 339 627 1.1% 1.1% 22,460 429 19.1
Other spec machines 892 722 1,614 3.3% 2.4% 28,581 27 0.9
Thermal process and app 501 305 806 1.9% 1.0% 14,664 47 3.2
Mechanical elements 1,437 988 2,424 5.3% 3.4% 31,590 220 7.0
Transport 1,289 1,111 2,400 4.8% 3.8% 47,497 2,381 50.1
Furniture, games 1,309 766 2,075 4.9% 2.6% 19,048 17 0.9
Other consumer goods 768 572 1,341 2.9% 1.9% 18,888 114 6.0
Civil engineering 2,864 1,191 4,055 10.6% 4.0% 27,954 68 2.4
Total 26,927 29,483 56,409 974,988 35,921 36.8
Electrical engineering 7,589 6,451 14,040 28.2% 21.9% 280,648 26,496 94.4
Instruments 4,162 5,339 9,502 15.5% 18.1% 159,332 2,640 16.6
Chemistry 3,055 9,164 12,219 11.3% 31.1% 240,574 1,658 6.9
Mechanical engineering 7,179 6,000 13,179 26.7% 20.4% 228,543 4,928 21.6
Other Fields 4,942 2,529 7,470 18.4% 8.6% 65,891 199 3.0
* Weighting by owners is innocuous, since they all get added back into the same class cell.
Weighting by classes means that a patent in multiple TF34 sectors is downweighted in each of the sectors.
@ Triples based on all EPO patenting, priority years 2002-2009 (see text for definition and further explanation).