The Netherlands 3rd fastest grower in patent requests

The Netherlands continues to file applications for international patents at a record pace, despite the overall worldwide decline in patent requests. With a growth rate of 3 percent compared to 2008 the Netherlands is the fastest grower in the top 15, after Japan and China. International patent filings under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fell by 4.5 percent in 2009 with sharper than average declines experienced by some industrialized countries and growth in a number of East Asian countries. Dutch company Philips was the Netherlands' top patent filer and the world's fifth largest, with 1,295 applications. Heading the list of companies was Japan's Panasonic Corporation with 1,891 filings. Provisional data indicates that 155,900 international patent applications were filed in 2009 as compared to the nearly 164,000 applications filed in 2008.

Further information:

·     www.wipo.int