Patent applications to the European Patent Office by applicants' / inventors' country of residence

The indicator measures the number of requests for patent protection of an invention filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) regardless of whether they are granted or not. The number of applications include direct European applications filed in the reference year (Direct) and international (PCT) applications for which the applicant(s) opted to protect their invention in Europe by selecting the EPO during the reporting period (PCT regional).

The indicator is presented by country of applicant as well as by country of inventor:

For the former, the patent applications are allocated according to the country of residence of the applicant listed on the application form. In cases where several applicants are mentioned on the application form, the country of residence of the first applicant listed applies (first-named applicant principle).

The country of residence of the (first) applicant is not necessarily the same as the county of residence of the inventor(s). For the latter, the applications are allocated according to the country of residence of the inventor. In case of several inventors being mentioned on the application form, the application is allocated proportionally to the corresponding countries of residence of the inventors (fractional counts).