Royal Philips announced that the company is the number 3 patent applicant in the world for patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). With a total number of 1839 patent applications filed at the EPO in 2013, Philips has shown a strong growth of 59% compared to 2012, when it held the 12th position in the EPO’s yearly patent applicant ranking. “Our Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio is one of the strategic assets, together with our brand, which is differentiating and gives us our competitive edge,” says Brian Hinman, Philips’ Chief Intellectual Property Officer. “Our number 3 position in the EPO’s ranking shows our recognition of Europe as an important region to protect our IP. At Philips we invest more than 7% of our annual turnover in Research and Development. With our strong patent portfolio, we protect and share our innovations and create value for our businesses by increasing their growth, profitability and competitiveness. Although the value and quality of our integrated IP portfolio is more important to us than the quantity of patents, we are pleased with this number 3 position as it shows our increased focus on innovation”. With more than 64,000 patent rights, 93,000 design rights, 46,000 trademarks and 4,700 domain names, Philips manages one of the largest IP portfolios in the world.
