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Munich (dpa) - For the first time in years, the number of patent applications has fallen again.
The European Patent Office (EPO) counted 180,250 applications last year, 0.7 percent less than in 2019, as it announced on Tuesday.
With 25,954 registrations, Germany defended its second place behind the USA, which remains the undisputed leader with 44,293.
It is followed by Japan and China.
"Overall, the patent area is very stable in the face of crises, because companies invest long-term in research and development even in a crisis," says EPO chief economist Yann Ménière.
However, there are clear differences between individual countries.
While the number of patents from the USA, Germany and Japan fell, China gained almost ten percent.
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Within Europe, however, Germany clearly occupies a dominant position.
Not only does it have more than twice as many registrations as the number two in Europe, France.
The German companies are also strong: Although Siemens is losing its position as the European group with the largest number of registrations to Ericsson from Sweden, this is only due to the fact that the 584 patent applications of the spun off Siemens Energy are now counted separately.
Worldwide that is enough for Siemens with 1634 for sixth place, directly ahead of Bosch (1597).
With BASF in 10th place, a third German company even made it into the top group.
The dominant companies in the ranking come from the Far East: Samsung and LG in 1st and 3rd place are Korean, Huawei in 2nd place is Chinese.
However, most registrations per million inhabitants come from Switzerland.
Germany ranks sixth in this ranking.
If you only look at the German level, there is a Bavarian triple.
Not only is Siemens the German number one at company level, the Free State is also well ahead of Baden Württemberg with 5,421 and North Rhine-Westphalia with 5047 with 7204 registrations. Finally, Munich dominates the city ranking with 3633 - far ahead of Stuttgart (1379) and Ludwigshafen (1115) .
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The corona crisis is also noticeable in the patent mix.
The medical technology sector once again took first place as the field with the highest number of registrations with 14,295 submissions.
Digital communication and computer technology follow closely behind.
Pharmaceutical research, which increased by a good 10 percent, and biotechnology, with a plus of 6.3 percent, made particularly big leaps.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210316-99-839959 / 2
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