{"id":50992,"date":"2016-03-07T06:31:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T05:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e52.nl\/?p=50992"},"modified":"2016-03-07T06:31:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T05:31:56","slug":"startups-are-now-taking-patents-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/startups-are-now-taking-patents-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"Startups Are Now Taking Patents Seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the European Patent Office (EPO<\/a>), Philips filed more patent applications than any other company in the world in 2015. Eindhoven as a city (2680 patents) was a clear winner over bigger towns such as Amsterdam (384) and Rotterdam (223). What does that really tell us about the status of innovation in the region?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt says a lot, but not th\u00e1t much at the same time\u201d, says Hans Helsloot, an Intellectual Property Consultant for the Netherlands Patent Centre. Patent requests from Eindhoven increased by 3.3% in 2015. “In my opinion it’s too early to tell whether The Netherlands or Eindhoven has become a more innovative place in 2015, because we don’t know the content of the applications yet.”<\/p>\n

Leading in innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Helsloot not all patents that are created in Eindhoven, get credited to the city. \u201cBased on the report, we are not able to tell how much of the ideas for the patents, originate from Eindhoven. The same goes for patents from research and development departments belonging to companies like Medtronic, Intel, Amazon and Samsung. Their applications are filed from offices based in the US, Korea or elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t reduce anything from Eindhoven as an innovative source, according to Helsloot. \u201cBecause it works both ways. Many patents originate from Eindhoven but are not filed by the European Patent Office. The report doesn\u2019t tell you that. Either way, even if only half or even a quarter of all Philips patents are requested here, it would still mean Eindhoven is the country\u2019s leader in patents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Schermafbeelding<\/a>Startups<\/strong><\/p>\n

There seems to be a trend on patent requests in startups, Helsloot thinks. \u201cSmall businesses like startups are starting to take notice. They now see the added value a patent provides to their company.\u201d According to Helsloot this is nothing like it was a couple of years ago. \u201cI have noticed a serious development in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helsloot is involved with the High Tech Campus<\/a> as an advisor to several startups. \u201cEven though more of them have started to apply for patents, a lot of the requests will be denied\u201d, he says. Globally, 26 percent of all applications have come from small business. \u00a0\u201cMy experience is that over half of those will be denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Schermafbeelding<\/a>The big companies such as Philips spend time and money on research before they file for a patent. \u201cSmaller enterprises either do this too little, or not at all\u201d, says the patent advisor. \u201cToo often it happens that an idea or a product already exists, so the application gets rejected. I would say that this happens to almost half of all applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eindhoven
\n<\/strong>Philips, the undoubted Champion of Patents (2402 applications in 2015)<\/a> and High Tech Campus draw a lot of those startups to Eindhoven. This is also noticed by Nico Cordes, European Patent Attorney at DeltaPatents. As an attorney he helps companies prepare their application. \u201cAn increasing amount of our clients can be considered a startup or small company.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Cordes, the increase in requested patents is part of a long trend. \u201cEven in times of recession we have seen a rise\u201d, he says. \u201cWhich is remarkable, because preparation and filing for a patent costs time and money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report
\n<\/strong>Cordes says that the divide between big multinationals and smaller companies in DeltaPatent\u2019s client\u00e8le is now around 50\/50. Underlining the trend Helsloot describes of more and more startups being interested in the patent protection.<\/p>\n

Helsloot says that the way the report is set up, does not provide a realistic view on the day to day operations like the one on High Tech Campus<\/a>. Of the 2680 applications from Eindhoven, 2402 come from Philips and 247 from NXP. \u201cWhich leaves only 31 patents for other, smaller companies. That seems a little odd, to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n