Patent applicants and applications; technology area, 2000-2010
| Technology area | Periods | Enterprises applying for an EPO patent (number) | Patent applications at the EPO (number) | Enterprises applying for a NLOC patent (number) | Patent applications at the NLOC (number) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All technology areas | 2010* | 1,270 | 3,460 | 1,490 | 1,849 |
| A Human necessities | 2010* | 262 | 711 | 361 | 363 |
| A1 Agriculture | 2010* | 68 | 94 | 119 | 134 |
| A2 Foodstuffs and tobacco | 2010* | 38 | 113 | 33 | 39 |
| A3 Personal or domestic articles | 2010* | 52 | 88 | 98 | 84 |
| A4 Health and amusement | 2010* | 104 | 416 | 111 | 106 |
| B Performing operations; transporting | 2010* | 325 | 393 | 402 | 391 |
| B1 Separating and mixing | 2010* | 75 | 113 | 67 | 55 |
| B2 Shaping | 2010* | 66 | 66 | 73 | 67 |
| B3 Printing | 2010* | 17 | 18 | 12 | 11 |
| B4 Transporting | 2010* | 151 | 172 | 247 | 257 |
| B5 Micro-structural and nanotechnology | 2010* | 16 | 24 | 3 | 2 |
| C Chemistry; metallurgy | 2010* | 160 | 515 | 72 | 65 |
| C1 Chemistry | 2010* | 136 | 489 | 63 | 59 |
| C2 Metallurgy | 2010* | 22 | 25 | 8 | 6 |
| C3 Combinatorial technology | 2010* | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| D Textiles; paper | 2010* | 27 | 32 | 12 | 8 |
| D1 Textiles or flexible materials n.e.c. | 2010* | 20 | 26 | 8 | 6 |
| D2 Paper | 2010* | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| E Fixed constructions | 2010* | 109 | 177 | 235 | 232 |
| E1 Building | 2010* | 101 | 118 | 216 | 218 |
| E2 Earth or rock drilling and mining | 2010* | 8 | 59 | 19 | 14 |
| F Mechanical engineering; lighting | 2010* | 133 | 181 | 180 | 158 |
| F1 Engines or pumps | 2010* | 29 | 22 | 35 | 37 |
| F2 Engineering in general | 2010* | 56 | 56 | 55 | 46 |
| F3 Lighting and heating | 2010* | 44 | 98 | 90 | 76 |
| F4 Weapons and blasting | 2010* | 4 | 6 | . | . |
| G Physics | 2010* | 150 | 664 | 140 | 303 |
| G1 Physics: instruments | 2010* | 147 | 657 | 136 | 298 |
| G2 Nucleonics | 2010* | 3 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
| H Electricity | 2010* | 104 | 710 | 88 | 103 |
| Unknown | 2010* | . | 76 | . | 226 |
| Source: CBS. | |||||
Table explanation
This table gives an overview of the number of patent applicants and patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) and NL Patent Office, a division of NL Agency (NLOC). Patents can be granted to enterprises, universities, institutions, private persons or other entities as long as the invention which they cover fulfils certain criteria. To obtain a patent the invention must be novel, contain an inventive step and be industrially applicable. This is assessed by a patent office like the EPO or NLOC. The patent office will grant or reject the application.
The data are broken down by the technology area the invention relates to. This does not necessarily have to be the same area in which the applicant is economically active (SIC).
If an application can be classified as relating to two (or more) technology areas, each technology area is attributed a fraction of the application. If, for example, an application can be classified as relating to two technology areas, half of one application is allocated to each technology area. As a result the total number of patent applications remains equal. The enterprise applying for this patent, on the other hand, is counted twice: once for each technology area.
For a small number of patent applications the applicant or technology area is unknown by Statistics Netherlands. Therefore, these applications are not classified by technology area.
This table has been stopped.
Data available from 2000 to 2010.
Status of the figures:
Data are final for 2000 to 2009. The data for 2010 are provisional. Since this table has been stopped, the data for 2010 will not be finalized.
Changes as of 30 October 2015:
None, this table has been stopped.
When will new figures be published?
No longer applicable.
Description topics
- Enterprises applying for an EPO patent
- Enterprises who applied for a patent at the European Patent Office (EPO)
in the period observed.
A patent that is granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) is valid in
all member countries of the EPO. However the EPO patent must be validated
at the national patent office in order to be effective in member
countries.
Patent:
A patent is an intellectual property right issued by an authorised body
intended to protect a new product, process or technology. It gives the
owner the legal right to prevent others from using, manufacturing,
selling, importing, etc. the invention. The patent remains in force for
limited duration and only in the country or countries concerned. Patents
can be granted to for example enterprises, institutions, individuals or
other entities as long as the invention meets the conditions for
patentability: novelty, non-obviousness and industrial applicability. - Patent applications at the EPO
- Patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) in the
period observed. A patent that is granted by the European Patent Office
(EPO) is valid in all member countries of the EPO. However the EPO
patent must be validated at the national patent office in order to be
effective in member countries.
Patent:
A patent is an intellectual property right issued by an authorised body
intended to protect a new product, process or technology. It gives the
owner the legal right to prevent others from using, manufacturing,
selling, importing, etc. the invention. The patent remains in force for
limited duration and only in the country or countries concerned. Patents
can be granted to for example enterprises, institutions, individuals or
other entities as long as the invention meets the conditions for
patentability: novelty, non-obviousness and industrial applicability. - Enterprises applying for a NLOC patent
- Enterprises who applied for a patent at the NL Patent Office (NLOC),
a division of Agency NL, in the period observed. Up to 2009,
NL Patent Office was known as the Netherlands Patent Office.
A patent granted by NL Patent Office is only valid in The Netherlands.
Patent:
A patent is an intellectual property right issued by an authorised body
intended to protect a new product, process or technology. It gives the
owner the legal right to prevent others from using, manufacturing,
selling, importing, etc. the invention. The patent remains in force for
limited duration and only in the country or countries concerned. Patents
can be granted to for example enterprises, institutions, individuals or
other entities as long as the invention meets the conditions for
patentability: novelty, non-obviousness and industrial applicability. - Patent applications at the NLOC
- Patent applications at the NL Patent Office (NLOC), a division of
Agency NL, in the period observed. A patent that is granted by the
NL Patent Office is only valid in The Netherlands.
Patent:
A patent is an intellectual property right issued by an authorised body
intended to protect a new product, process or technology. It gives the
owner the legal right to prevent others from using, manufacturing,
selling, importing, etc. the invention. The patent remains in force for
limited duration and only in the country or countries concerned. Patents
can be granted to for example enterprises, institutions, individuals or
other entities as long as the invention meets the conditions for
patentability: novelty, non-obviousness and industrial applicability.