Being a top filer at the EPO and still advocate for "Quality over Quantity"
Gabriele Mohsler
VP Patent Development at Ericsson | European - and German Patent Attorney | Telecommunication Engineer | Expert in patents and European litigation |
Yesterday the EPO published its statistics on the top filers 2022 and Ericsson again is in the top range, actually we are in the top range for a lot of years. At the same time Ericsson is actively supporting the Industry Patent Quality Charter (IPQC), which is advocating for high quality of patents. Does that fit together?
YES IT DOES.
The filing numbers in general (not only at the EPO as this is only part of our filing activities) are reflecting the R&D investment AND the innovative culture in the company. We are receiving much more inventions than we file, some of them would clearly be patentable, but are very selective in deciding what to file, already considering what we regard as quality of the invention early on as one of the aspects.
Once a patent is filed, we are appreciating a thorough and complete search and examination of our applications. And this is what the quality charter (IPQC) is asking and aiming for. In my view the EPO has the means and the competence to exactly do so, only that the examiners need enough time and training, e.g. in new technologies, to carry out these tasks.
Thus in my view Ericsson has found the perfect middle ground. Not to file everything, still file enough to build up a strong portfolio and aim for quality of the filings and even higher quality of the granted patents that make it into our portfolio of more than 60.000 patents.
Gabriele Mohsler - I completely agree with your statements on quality. You have always been a force for professionalism and quality within Ericsson and so it is appropriate that you lead by example outside of Ericsson. When it comes to quantity, I suppose every company will have a different sweet spot. Ericsson spent SEK47,3b (USD5,9b) on R&D in 2021 corresponding (roughly) to 1827 new applications for patent. Huawei spent CNY142,7b (USD22b) corresponding (again roughly) to 4505 new applications. Ericsson files a ratio of 1 new application per USD3.2m of R&D spend versus Huawei's 1 new application per USD4.9m of R&D. An approx. 50% spread is quite a different sweet spot. These are of course bulk numbers and rough estimates. Huawei across the board has a much more diverse business than does Ericsson some of which are more or less patent intensive, but what does this comparison say about quantity? Maybe Huawei's top position reflects underperformance - all things being equal Huawei might be filing as many as 6875 new applications to reach the same ratio of new application for patent/R&D spend as Ericsson. Maybe Huawei is more selective? Differently selective? Less innovative?
Senior Manager (Intellectual Property Services)
1 年Congratulations to you and your Team, Gabriele Mohsler!
Chief IP Counsel and Group Senior Vice President at Siemens
1 年Congratulations, Gabi. Putting patent quality over quantity doesn't prevent a company from being a leading innovator. Actually, it is probably just the other way round.
I help organisations to create, manage and monetize Intellectual wealth.R&D support | Technology Scouting | SEPs | Reverse Engineering
1 年Great article !!
Founder Partner at LexOrbis
1 年Congratulations ?? and to celebrate better the order today from the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court setting the SEP precedent in India