By Donald Zuhn --
In February, inovia released its 2011 report on global IP trends. In compiling the report, inovia, which produces products for PCT national phase entry, European patent validation, and patent translations, surveyed nearly 150 U.S. companies to examine how the U.S. economy has impacted the foreign filing strategies of U.S. patentees.
The report notes that survey respondents filed an average of just under 50 patent families last year, with 23% of respondents being involved in the pharmaceutical/biotech sector. About a third of survey respondents had no in-house patent attorneys or agents, one-third had a single in-house patent attorney or agent, and the remainder had two or more attorneys or agents (only 8% had six or more).
The report states that "[o]verall, the mood for 2010 was mixed" among survey respondents, with a majority of respondents citing cost containment and U.S. Patent Office reform as the most important issues in 2010. Despite the mixed mood among respondents, 72% said they filed as many patent applications as they expected in 2010, 9% said they filed more, and only 19% said they filed less. These results compared favorably with those of the 2010 survey, in which 41% of respondents said they filed fewer applications than expected in 2009.
While filing expectations appear to have rebounded, the report shows that respondents have become more selective with their global filings. In particular, respondents filed application families in an average of 5.9 countries in 2010, down from 6.6 countries in 2009. With regard to the countries in which respondents regularly filed, 17% added new countries to their list, with more than 50% adding China and smaller percentages adding Brazil, India, and Russia. A quarter of respondents dropped countries from their lists, with 45% deciding not to file in Japan and 20% dropping Europe or individual EPO member states from their lists. Respondents that dropped Japan from their lists cited high cost and low cost-to-benefit ratios as the reasons for doing so.
The report notes that a large majority of respondents continue to rely on the PCT for foreign filing. Of these respondents, 89% selected the EPO as an International Searching Authority, 45% selected the Korean IP Office (KIPO), and 20% selected the Japan Patent Office (JPO).
With regard to IP budgets, 38% of respondents said their budgets were cut in 2010, down from the 60% of respondents who indicated that their budgets were cut in 2009. Moreover, 23% of respondents said their budgets were not cut in 2010 or in previous years and 21% said their budgets actually went up in 2010.
The report concludes by noting that most survey respondents are "cautiously optimistic about 2011," with respondents expecting to file an average of 44.5 patent applications this year.
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