Patent Statistics and Analysis Q3 2022

GlobalData's “Patent Statistics and Analysis Q3 2022” report offers insights into the patent filings activities, top patent filers, top patent technologies, top patent sectors, licensing & litigation trends, and social media & trend analysis.

The number of patent filings and grants decreased in Q3’22 which is also reflected in the number of filings and grants from top patent offices such as China, the US, Japan, Europe, and Korea. The decline could be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemics' after-effects on the global economic slowdown.

China has seen a decline in patent grants compared to its patent filings, which could be attributable to the meticulous patent examination mandated by the patent office's "Annual Guidelines for Facilitating High-Quality Development of Intellectual Property 2022" policy. The top assignees in CN and JP patent offices are dominated by domestic filers. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, and Nanjing University were among China's top five filers.

Huawei dominated patent filings followed by Samsung and LG. Gree Electric has witnessed the highest 33% YoY growth in Q3 patent filings mainly in energy-efficient HVAC systems. PuduTech, a China-based startup, filed the most patents in Q3'22 with 326% growth. Its patents were primarily in the areas of robotic positioning and navigation, motion control, multi-machine scheduling, as well as perception and obstacle detection. Nanjing University filed the highest number of patents in Q3’22 with a growth of 34% focusing on digitalization, machine learning, nanotech, and nanomedicines.

Artificial intelligence recorded a growth of 29% followed by digitalization and fintech. The retail sector witnessed a growth of 13% with the highest share in digitalization, e-commerce, and fintech-related technologies.

Key findings in the report include: 

• Q3’22 witnessed a slump in the global patenting activity mainly due to the drop in patent filings and grants from  IP5

• China witnessed a surge in patent filings with its focus on digitalization, climate change, and industrial automation

• Asian companies spearhead the patenting activity, Huawei grabs the top spot while Gree emerges as the fastest growing

• Innovation activity of the China startups is on the rise and China's universities dominate the patent filings

• Artificial intelligence has garnered the highest traction in patent filings followed by digitalization

• Measurements that mostly focus on RADAR navigation, flaw diagnosis, and image analysis are among the top filers in the ‘Sustaining’ quadrant

• The retail sector patent filings grew at the highest annual growth rate of 13% with an emphasis on digitalization

• The financial services sector patent filings grew by 4% primarily owing to inventions in digital banking, digital payments, and insurtech areas

• The licensing deal between Apple and LG has caught media attention

• Ravgen and Labcorp were abuzz in the news for infringement litigations

• The highlight includes UK startup ARuVR’s launch of a multi-simultaneous XR global training system

• Fractal Antenna System’s metasurface detection technology and Samsung's smart ring picked up interest