2012 Fuel Cell Patent Review

2012 Fuel CellPatent Review

1 The 2012 Fuel Cell Patent Review www.fuelcelltoday.com

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3

2. Granted Patents .................................................................................................................. 3

2.1 Number of Patents ...................................................................................................... 3

2.2 Filing Date .................................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Country of Origin ......................................................................................................... 4

2.4 Geographic Region of Origin ....................................................................................... 7

2.5 Assignee....................................................................................................................... 8

3. Patent Applications ............................................................................................................. 9

3.1 Applications as a Preview ............................................................................................ 9

3.2 Number of Applications .............................................................................................. 9

3.3 Country of Origin ....................................................................................................... 10

3.4 Geographic Region of Origin ..................................................................................... 11

3.5 Assignee..................................................................................................................... 12

4. Patent Activity in China .................................................................................................... 13

5. Conclusions and Outlook .................................................................................................. 14

Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 15

Average Growth Projections ................................................................................................ 15

Country of Origin.................................................................................................................. 16

Ratio of 2011 Applications to 2011 Granted patents .......................................................... 18

Fuel Cell Today Geographic Regions .................................................................................... 19

Glossary ................................................................................................................................ 20

Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Comparison of growth in annual patents granted ..................................................... 3

Figure 2: Application filing date for fuel cell patents granted in 2011 ...................................... 4

Figure 3: Annual granted fuel cell patents per country of origin (top ten) ............................... 5

Figure 4: Annual granted fuel cell patents per country of origin (>5 and <100 in 2011) .......... 6

Figure 5: Annual granted fuel cell patents per region of origin ................................................ 7

Figure 6: Total annual patent application growth compared with fuel cell patent application growth from 2010 to 2011 ......................................................................................................... 9

Figure 7: Applications for fuel cell patents in 2011 per country of origin ............................... 10

Figure 8: Applications for fuel cell patents in 2011 per region of origin ................................. 11

Figure 9: Total fuel cell patents and the percentage including China ..................................... 13

Table I: Top ten assignees of fuel cell patents granted in each year ......................................... 8

Table II: Top ten assignees of patent applications in 2011 compared to 2010 ....................... 12

Table III: Comparison of granted patents and applications from WIPO, USPTO and EPO compared with fuel cell growth. .............................................................................................. 15

Table IV: Number of granted patents per country of origin .................................................... 16

Table V: Number of patent applications per country of origin ............................................... 17

Table VI: Ratio of 2010 applications to granted patents ......................................................... 18


Executive Summary

The 2012 Fuel Cell Patent Review is the second in Fuel Cell Today’s series of reports on fuel cell patent activity. It analyses both granted patents and patent applications published in 2011, by comparison with publications in 2010. The fuel cell patent numbers reported here reflect the continued technological progress in the industry, and the advent of commercialisation in some fuel cell applications from 2007. The number of granted fuel cell patents increased by 51%, from 1,806 in 2010 to 2,732 in 2011; this growth was significantly higher than that for overall granted patents worldwide (10%) or for combined United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and European Patent Office (EPO) patents (3%). Assignees for these patents were dominated by those from Japan and the USA, accounting for 69% of the granted patent total in 2011. Half of the top ten companies were from the automotive sector, highlighting their continued commitment to fuel cell technology. Other leading companies in 2011 were Panasonic and Samsung, each a well-known household name. The filing year for patents granted in 2011 shows a similar pattern to previous years, with the majority of applications being filed between 2003 and 2006. Fuel cell patent applications also continue to grow, with a 58% increase in 2011 versus 2010. This was considerably more growth than was seen for total worldwide applications (8%), or combined USPTO and EPO applications (1%). 2011 growth in European applications was suppressed by an exceptional year in 2010, preceding a change to the EPO regulations at the end of the year. The emergence of Asia as a dominant patenting force has also been identified, with the World Intellectual Property Organization observing double-digit growth in applications from Japan and China. Fuel Cell Today has known about the dominance of Japan in fuel cell technology for many years, both as a patenting force and commercially, but we have also tracked the emergence of China as a named country in the fuel cell patent literature. In 2000 and 2005, less than 1% of granted fuel cell patents from the US and European patent authorities included China as a named country. In 2010 and 2011, this situation has changed significantly, with 78% and 49% respectively of granted patents including China. This shift highlights the importance of the Chinese market and shows manufacturers are keen to protect their intellectual property there. Looking ahead, we expect sustained growth in fuel cell related granted patents, especially since the development of new commercial products is continuing and new applications for fuel cells are entering the market. The discovery and inclusion of advanced materials and high-performance catalysts are just a few of the ways in which research efforts will further help the commercialisation of fuel cell technology and this will be reflected in the patent literature.


1. Introduction

The 2012 Fuel Cell Patent Review is our second annual patent review which covers developments in each calendar year. The 2012 report covers granted patents published between 1st January and 31st December 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). Data from 2010 are shown alongside 2011 to provide a basis for comparison over the past year. We also analyse applications for new patents published in 2011, including international patent applications, to forecast patent developments which may be seen from 2011 onwards. More detail on how we approached the analysis can be found in our 2011 Patent Review1.

2. Granted Patents

2.1 Number of Patents

In 2011, the USPTO reached a significant milestone in issuing its eight millionth patent. International filing under the PCT system (direct and PCT national phase entries) also grew to record levels (the fastest growth since 2005) with WIPO estimating more than two million applications were filed worldwide in 20112 (discussed in greater depth in Section 3).

Figure 1: Comparison of growth in annual patents granted Focussing on fuel cell technology, the US and European patent offices published a combined total of 2,732 granted fuel cell patents, equating to growth in fuel cell related intellectual property (IP) of 51% during that year. This growth compares favourably to growth in the

1 Fuel Cell Today, The 2011 Fuel Cell Patent Review, 21st July 2011: http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/patents/2011/2011-patent-review 2 WIPO, ‘World Intellectual Property Indicators 2011’, p43: www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/freepublications/en/intproperty/941/wipo_pub_941_2011.pdf

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2010 to 2011

Worldwide Patent Growth USPTO + EPO growth Fuel Cell growth

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/patents/2011/2011-patent-review


total number of granted patents published by these two offices in 2011, which amounted to only 3%. (Figure 1).

2.2 Filing Date

It can take several years for a patent application to be granted, so the number of granted patents reflects the level of research and development activity that took place some years previously. To illustrate this, Figure 2 charts the filing year of the 2,732 fuel cell patents granted in 2011, indicating how many of these were applied for in each preceding year. Note that filing date differs from publication date: the USPTO and EPO typically publish applications around eighteen months after filing. The date of filing of the first application will be the priority date of the patent.

Figure 2: Application filing date for fuel cell patents granted in 2011

The majority of applications for patents granted in 2011 (65%) were filed between 2003 and 2006. In our previous Review, we commented that the effects of the global economic crisis were not reflected in the 2010 granted patent data, due to the filing taking place before 2007. The same can be said for 2011 granted patents, so we will continue to monitor filing dates in future reviews to see if any discernible effect can be seen.

2.3 Country of Origin

We have assigned a country of origin to each patent in our dataset. This is the designated country of residence of the patent assignee, or the country in which the relevant company is headquartered (in the case of more than one assignee, we have used the country of the first assignee). We have done this in order to give a true reflection of where the innovation has


originated and where the IP resides. Note that this differs from a patent’s priority country. The priority country of a patent is the country in which the first filing of the application is claimed. This is often – but not necessarily – the country of origin of the patent assignee. The number of patents granted to each country by the US and European patent offices, collectively, is shown in Figure 3 (top ten countries) and Figure 4 (countries with fewer than 100 patents in each year).

Figure 3: Annual granted fuel cell patents per country of origin (top ten)

Figure 3 shows Japan and the USA continuing to lead the world in terms of granted fuel cell patents, as they did in 2010. Japan (1,040) has accelerated in the past year putting it further ahead of the USA (841) in 2011. The top ten countries in our list agree with similar analysis published by WIPO;3 the only difference being the inclusion of China by the WIPO report, instead of Taiwan. Our analysis separates the two countries in terms of granted patents, with Taiwan holding the greater number in 2011, hence its inclusion in our top ten. A more in-depth analysis of granted patents with China as a priority country can be found later in this report on page 13. Japanese interest in fuel cells originates from two main applications, automotive development and residential micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP). Leading Japanese companies make up half of the top ten global holders of granted patents in 2011. These include Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, Nissan and Hitachi, among others. In the USA, General Motors heads the list of granted patents for 2011 with 23% of the country’s total. Many more fuel cell companies and universities make up the remainder of

3 WIPO, ‘World Intellectual Property Indicators 2011’, p81: www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/freepublications/en/intproperty/941/wipo_pub_941_2011.pdf

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Nu

mb

er

of

gran

ted

pat

en

ts

2010 2011


the list, with notable contributions from UTC Power, Delphi Technologies, Bloom Energy, FuelCell Energy, IdaTech and Honeywell, each contributing 24 or more to the total. In Germany, Daimler and Siemens are the leading contributors; both are now members of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), with the latter joining in September 2012. The CEP is a national organisation focussing on developing standards for hydrogen production, infrastructure and mobility. The CEP has three working groups, comprising representatives from its sixteen member organisations, these people work together to overcome their competitive boundaries and advance hydrogen technologies. South Korea remains fourth in the list, with Samsung accounting for 80% of granted patents in the country. Hyundai and LG Chemical Ltd contribute smaller amounts to the total. Countries with fewer granted patents than Korea in Figure 3 were dwarfed by the scale of the top four, so Figure 4 excludes the USA, Japan, Germany and Korea, and shows those countries from which fewer than 100 patents but more than five patents originated in 2011. (A full list is given in the Appendix.)

Figure 4: Annual granted fuel cell patents per country of origin (>5 and <100 in 2011)

The order of countries in Figure 4 has remained the same since 2010, with only the Netherlands losing one place to Israel. All countries in this list except Taiwan increased the number of granted patents in 2011 in comparison to 2010. France has extended its lead over the other countries, led by the CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) who contributed 40% to the total. Along with Société BIC, Renault and Air Liquide, these four companies account for 75% of French fuel cell patents.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Nu

mb

er

of

gran

ted

pat

en

ts

2010 2011


In Canada, Versa Power Systems is leading the list of granted patents with around 20% of the total. Versa is a manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cell systems and is developing 2 to 10 kW stationary systems for CHP applications. We noted the decline in the number of patents granted to Ballard Power Systems in our previous Review, and this low level of activity continued in 2011, with just two patents granted in each year. This is down from 48 in 2005 and reflects the corporate transformation which Ballard undertook from 2007 to 2009. During this time the company’s focus shifted away from long-term automotive fuel cell R&D to concentrate on near-term commercial markets for its fuel cell products.

In the UK, a similar situation can be seen with the lead company, Johnson Matthey (JM) having close to 20% of the country’s total granted patents. JM specialises in platinum-based products and sells fuel cell catalysts and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for fuel cell systems.

In countries with fewer than 30 granted patents, contributors are a mixture of academic institutions, government agencies and independent companies. Australia is one exception to that rule where, unsurprisingly, eleven out of the country’s thirteen granted patents were to Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited, the most active company in the country to date with a commercially available fuel cell CHP unit.

The last country in this list, Sweden, also differs from the rest with all of its granted patents awarded either to PowerCell, or one of its major financial backers, Volvo.

2.4 Geographic Region of Origin

Fuel Cell Today analyses the global fuel cell market in terms of four geographic regions: Asia, Europe, North America, and Rest of World. The extent of each region is shown on a world map included in the Appendix.

Figure 5 shows the split of 2011 granted patents divided between Fuel Cell Today’s regions and compares them to the same split for 2010 patents. All regions show an increase in 2011, with the order remaining the same as for the previous year.

Figure 5: Annual granted fuel cell patents per region of origin

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

Asia North America Europe Rest of World

Nu

mb

er

of

gran

ted

pat

en

ts

2010 2011


Asia remains the dominant region and this is to be expected since Japan and Korea are two of the top four countries globally, as shown earlier in Figure 3. Bear in mind that domestic patenting in these countries has not been included, as it has been for the USA and to some extent for the European nations by searching the USPTO and EPO. North America holds second place in the regional split, led by the USA (second place overall). The other country in the North American region, Canada, placed sixth overall. This region held 1.8 times more granted patents than next-placed Europe in 2011. The Rest of the World region continues to lag behind the other regions in terms of international granted patents, but adoption of the technology in this region is showing signs of growth (as shown in our latest Fuel Cell Industry Review4).

2.5 Assignee

Table I gives the top ten companies in terms of granted patents during the past two years and the number of patents they were assigned. It confirms the continued dominance of automotive companies: 40% of the top ten assignees in 2010 and 50% in 2011.

Samsung continues to be the dominant non-automotive company in the list. It accounted for 38% of Korea’s granted patents in 2010 and increased that to 80% of the country’s total granted patents for 2011 (Figure 3), almost tripling its number. Despite Hyundai pledging to commercialise its ix35 fuel cell electric vehicle by 2015 and manufacture 1,000 units during the next two years, its level of patenting is much lower than its automotive competitors, accounting for only 6% of Korea’s total patents.

The continued presence of so many automotive manufacturers in the list each year serves to underline their efforts to commercialise fuel cell electric vehicles by 2015. Honda and Toyota have recently reiterated their commitment to this date and both plan to release new models taking advantage of technological developments and cost reductions in their fuel cell systems.

Table I: Top ten assignees of fuel cell patents granted in each year

Rank 2010 2011

1 68 217

2 50 194

3 48 191

4 26 188

5 24 92

6 22 87 7 22 36 8 17 33 9 16 35

10 12 32

4 Fuel Cell Today, The Fuel Cell Industry Review 2012, 5th Sept 2012. Page 32: http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/industry-review/2012/the-industry-review-2012

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/industry-review/2012/the-industry-review-2012

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/industry-review/2012/the-industry-review-2012


3. Patent Applications

3.1 Applications as a Preview

Internationally, patent applications set a number of new records in 2011. Total applications filed through the PCT grew by 7.8%, the fastest rate for seven years, and the number of applications that year exceeded two million for the first time2. The PCT came into force in 1978 and it took seventeen years (until 1995) until one million patents were filed in a single year. Since then, it has taken just thirteen years for the annual total to reach two million showing the increase in innovation during recent years.

Regionally, a shift can be seen in overall PCT applications moving from North America and Europe towards Asia with impressive growth seen in Japan and China. We consider the rise of patenting in China in Section 4 of this review.

The following section compares patent applications published in 2011 to the previous year. As shown earlier in Figure 2, it takes a number of years for a successful patent to be granted, so these applications, their countries of origin and assignees represent future developments in the fuel cell industry.

3.2 Number of Applications

Applications for fuel cell related patents continued to show impressive growth in 2011, far exceeding average patent application growth; growth in fuel cell patent applications reached 58% between 2010 and 2011; Figure 6 shows this disparity. Applications to the USPTO increased by 3% between 2010 and 2011, but combined USPTO and EPO applications were suppressed by a decrease in EPO applications, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Total annual patent application growth compared with fuel cell patent application growth from 2010 to 2011

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

2010 to 2011

Worldwide Application Growth USPTO + EPO growth Fuel Cell growth


Total European applications filed between 2010 and 2011 decreased due to a change in EPO regulations which led a rush for applicants to file certain applications before the end of 2010. As a result, 2010 applications were higher than usual, resulting in a decrease the following year.

Growth in total international applications under the PCT system were slightly higher, approaching 8%, but this too was still significantly less growth in applications than the 58% seen for fuel cell specific applications. Being an emerging high technology area, both applications and granted patents for fuel cell technology are higher than the global total, which includes many more mature technologies.

The patents published in 2011 would, on the whole, have been filed during the global economic crisis. The continued growth in applications during the past few years shows the on-going support and development fuel cell technology has received despite the recession felt in many countries around the world.

3.3 Country of Origin

Figure 7 gives the countries of origin for 2011 fuel cell patent applications. Only countries with more than 50 applications each are shown; ‘Others’ is the sum of applications from the remainder (see the Appendix for a full list). It is no surprise that the top five countries in this list are in the same order the top countries for granted patents, shown earlier in Figure 3.

Figure 7: Applications for fuel cell patents in 2011 per country of origin

The top five countries in Figure 7 all increased applications for patents in 2011 versus 2010, but remain in the same order as reported in our previous year’s Patent Review1. Japan and the USA continue to dominate in terms of applications and we expect this trend to continue. Germany, South Korea and France fill out the rest of the ‘top five’, indicating the continued high level of investment and interest in fuel cell technology in those countries.


The UK, Taiwan and Canada also remain in the list of countries with 50 or more patent applications with each of these countries having smaller domestic fuel cell industries driving adoption of the technology. The final country in this year’s list is Denmark, again an active country in fuel cell development.

Narrowly avoiding the 50 patent minimum in this chart are Italy, Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands, all by fewer than eight applications. In last year’s report we set the minimum level at 30 applications (for ease of visibility) and had we done that this year the graph would have included fourteen companies, a 56% increase year-on-year highlighting the sustained growth in fuel cell related patent applications globally. The full list of applicant countries can be found in the Appendix.

3.4 Geographic Region of Origin

With Japan and the USA so dominant in terms of applications (Figure 7), it comes as no surprise that Asia and North America are the top two regions for fuel cell patent applications. This order is likely to remain the same for many years to come due to the dominance of Japanese and American companies and the appetite for fuel cells shown by their domestic markets.

Europe follows in third place, with Germany the main contributor to the total. France and the UK also increased their numbers of patent applications in 2011 and this has resulted in the European region narrowing the gap to North America by 6% versus 2010.

In the Rest of the World patent applications increased by 81%, but from such a low base that the region is barely visible in Figure 8. Fuel Cell Today is observing increased activity in this region however, so applications can be expected to continue to grow in the coming years.

Figure 8: Applications for fuel cell patents in 2011 per region of origin


3.5 Assignee

The top ten assignees for applications published in 2011 are shown in Table II. These ten companies are the same top ten as in 2010 but in some cases with a differing rank. Japanese companies make up six of the top ten companies.

Table II: Top ten assignees of patent applications in 2011 compared to 2010

Company 2011 Rank 2011 Apps 2010 Rank 2010 Apps

1 461 1 381

2 263 2 141

3 193 4 103

4 167 5 103

5 154 6 79 a 6 142 3 118

7 128 7 75

8 113 9 52

9 99 10 52

10 70 8 61 a Including applications from both UTC Power Corp. and UTC Fuel Cells.

Honda, General Motors and Samsung all moved up one place each as UTC slipped from third to sixth. Nissan also dropped two places to tenth, but the remaining companies all stayed in the same order. It is good to see the automotive companies in the list maintain or increase their application activity, despite the date for commercialisation of fuel cell electric vehicles getting ever nearer. It shows their commitment to the technology and to protecting the IP generated as they continue to refine and improve their technology. Interestingly Hyundai does not make this list, or even come close in terms of international patent applications. This is despite the company being likely to introduce a commercial fuel cell model onto the market ahead of the other OEMs. More information about the upcoming commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles can be found in our recent report, ‘Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: The Road Ahead’5.

5 Fuel Cell Today, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: The Road Ahead, 28th August 2012. http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/surveys/2012/fuel-cell-electric-vehicles-the-road-ahead


4. Patent Activity in China

Within the past five years there has been a vast increase in the number of granted fuel cell patents in which China is included in the list of countries where the IP is enforced. China has been bound by the terms of the PCT since its inclusion in 1994,6 so this trend is a new development for IP in the country. It highlights China’s recent emergence as an important end-user of fuel cells and the need to protect IP there. In our 2011 Patent Report we compared data from 2000, 2005 and 2010 for granted fuel cell patents. If we take that data (and add in 2011) and overlay the percentage of patents covering China we see less than 0.25% for both 2000 and 2005. By 2010, China was included in 78% of all granted patents, a significant shift in IP protection by fuel cell researchers and developers. This percentage dropped in 2011, with an absolute reduction of 78 despite an increase in total granted patents, but it still shows the importance of IP protection in the country.

Figure 9: Total fuel cell patents and the percentage including China

Of these granted patents, very few were filed with China as the priority country however, with none in 2000 or 2005, eight in 2010 and just seven in 2011; these were mainly by Chinese companies. The top ten companies which included China as one of the countries in their patent portfolios are virtually identical to the top ten global companies patenting fuel cell technology, which is no surprise in itself. What is surprising is the extent of this recent shift in direction to include China. This underlines the potential market for fuel cell technology in the country, alongside increased confidence of China’s ability to police and enforce patents. China is a huge prospective market for fuel cells, especially for backup power applications supporting the country’s fragmented electricity grids, and also for zero-emissions vehicles which can contribute to improved air quality in its cities. More information about the Chinese market for fuel cells can be found in our country report.7

6 WIPO PCT contracting states, accessed 14th December 2012: http://www.wipo.int/pct/guide/en/gdvol1/annexes/annexa/ax_a.pdf 7 Fuel Cell Today, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen in China, 31st January 2012. http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/analysis/surveys/2012/fuel-cells-and-hydrogen-in-china

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

2000 2005 2010 2011

%

% Fuel Cell Patents Including China (CN)

Total Fuel Cell Patents (EP & US Authorities)


5. Conclusions and Outlook

2011 showed appreciable increases in both fuel cell patent applications and granted patents published during the year. While the overall numbers increased, the regional dominance by a few key countries, such as Japan, USA, Germany and Korea, was maintained. This should not come as a great surprise considering the short timescale from year to year, the continued prevalence of fuel cell technology companies in these countries and their appetite for the technology. Below these top four, France, Canada, UK, Taiwan and Italy also retained their positions. The dominance shown by certain regions in the geographical split is also linked to the type of companies patenting fuel cell technology. The automotive industry is strong in these countries and companies such as Honda and General Motors lead the 2011 list of top ten fuel cell patents by company. In fact five of the top ten companies are from the automotive sector, with other companies including residential micro-CHP fuel cell manufacturers and well-known multinationals. Automotive fuel cell technology is expected to reach commercialisation during the next three years, and the five automotive companies in the top ten are all developing products for sale. The continued success of residential micro-CHP, led by Japanese manufacturers, will also keep companies such as Panasonic at the top of the patent statistics as it further optimises its product for sale both domestically and overseas. China has emerged as a country of interest to fuel cell manufacturers with a significant percentage of granted patents in 2010 and 2011 including China as a named country. If we look back over the past ten years, typically less than 1% of granted patents included China, but a shift has taken place in the industry with a strong emphasis on IP protection in China. This is likely to be a combination of increased confidence in the country’s ability to police and enforce patents alongside recognition of its market potential. Fuel Cell Today expects the level of patent activity in fuel cell technology to continue on an increasing trajectory over the coming years. Intense research is still being carried out to improve the existing technology, allowing longer lifetimes, increased durability and lower cost. This effort will continue and, alongside the discovery of new materials with the potential to improve fuel cell technology, these new discoveries will lead continued growth in patent activity. In addition to this, more companies are entering the fuel cell sector each year to take advantage of the opportunities the technology offers and this too is likely to contribute to increased patent activity.


Appendix

Average Growth Projections

Granted Patents: Annual growth rates for international patents (direct and PCT national phase entries) were calculated using data from the WIPO IP Statistics Data Center8, European and US data were taken from the USPTO9 and EPO10 websites. Results are shown in Table III below. Patent Applications: Annual growth rates in all applications for international applications were taken from WIPO IP Facts and Figures, 2012 edition11. EPO and USPTO data were taken from their respective websites9,10. Results are shown in Table III below and plotted in Figure 1 and Figure 6.

Table III: Comparison of granted patents and applications from WIPO, USPTO and EPO compared with fuel cell growth.

Year Total

Applications (Global)

% growth

Total USPTO + EPO Apps

% growth

Actual Fuel Cell Apps

% Growth in fuel cell Apps

2010 1,985,300 - 641,300 - 3,634 - 2011 2,140,600 7.8 646,392 0.8 5,734 57.8

8 WIPO IP Statistics Data Center: http://ipstatsdb.wipo.org/ipstats/ipstats/patentsSearch 9 http://www.uspto.gov/ 10 http://www.epo.org/ 11 WIPO, ‘WIPO IP Facts and FIgures 2012’, page 12 http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/freepublications/en/statistics/943/wipo_pub_943_2012.pdf

Year Total

Patents (Global)

% growth

Total USPTO + EPO Patents

% growth

Actual Fuel Cell Patents

% Growth in fuel cell Patents

2010 908,600 - 278,395 - 1,806 - 2011 996,800 9.7 286,086 2.8 2,372 31.3


Country of Origin

The number of granted fuel cell patents published in 2010 and 2011 for each country of origin (as determined by Fuel Cell Today) is shown in Table IV. These are listed in descending order of number of patents published in 2011. The number of fuel cell patent applications published in 2011 for each country is shown in Table V, listed in descending order.

Table IV: Number of granted patents per country of origin

Country 2010 2011

Japan 617 1,040 USA 598 841 Germany 187 285 South Korea 177 240 France 45 72 Canada 32 47 UK 30 46 Taiwan 30 30 Italy 18 28 Denmark 9 21 Switzerland 9 13 Australia 8 13 China 7 10 Israel 3 7 Netherlands 6 7 Sweden 3 7 Austria 4 4 Spain 0 4 Belgium 2 3 Finland 2 3 Norway 1 3 Singapore 2 2 Cayman Islands 2 1 India 2 1 Ireland 1 1 Cook Islands 0 1 Estonia 0 1 South Africa 0 1 Greece 4 0 Saudi Arabia 2 0

Total 1,806 2,732


Table V: Number of patent applications per country of origin

Country 2010 2011

Japan 1,374 2,376 USA 1,080 1,495 Germany 341 552 South Korea 206 418 France 126 179 UK 67 120 Taiwan 71 112 Canada 57 72 Denmark 29 57 Italy 25 44 Netherlands 34 43 Switzerland 24 42 Finland 17 42 Sweden 22 32 Austria 7 21 China 15 20 Israel 13 20 Australia 8 17 Spain 4 13 Singapore 10 12 Norway 4 8 South Africa 3 6 Greece 2 6 Belgium 1 6 Brazil 3 5 India 3 5 Turkey 2 5 Russia 3 3 Estonia 1 2 Cayman Islands 3 1 Ireland 2 0 Czech Republic 1 0 Hong Kong 1 0 New Zealand 1 0 Saudi Arabia 1 0

Total 3,561 5,734


Ratio of 2011 Applications to 2011 Granted patents

In our 2011 Patent Review we reported the ratio of granted patents to patent applications for the top ten countries in terms of applications to give an impression of how successful these applications were. While there is no direct relationship between the number of granted patents and patent applications in a given year, we have compared last years’ results with the 2011 top ten applicant countries, allowing us to detect any changes in their levels of patent activity. The ratios in Table VI show that, in 2011, most countries on this list had 1.5 to 2.7 times more fuel cell applications than granted patents. This is broadly in line with 2010 activity where the range was 1.2 to 3.2 times applications to granted patents. Taiwan is the only outlier with 3.7 times more applications than patents in 2011. This is a significant increase on 2010 (2.4 times which was a normal year in comparison to its peers). Reasons for this could be manifold, such as applications filed to block others from taking advantage of a technology, or simply a greater amount of research producing results which are worthy of a patent application; time will tell if this results in an increase in granted patents in the future.

Table VI: Ratio of 2010 applications to granted patents

2010 2011

Country Patent

Applications Granted Patents

Ratio Patent

Applications Granted Patents

Ratio

Japan 1,374 618 2.2 2,376 1,040 2.3 USA 1,080 601 1.8 1,495 841 1.8 Germany 341 187 1.8 552 285 1.9 South Korea 206 177 1.2 418 240 1.7 France 126 46 2.7 179 72 2.5 UK 67 30 2.2 120 46 2.6 Taiwan 71 30 2.4 112 30 3.7 Canada 57 32 1.8 72 47 1.5 Denmark 29 9 3.2 57 21 2.7


Fuel Cell Today Geographic Regions


Glossary

CEA Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives CEP Clean Energy Partnership CHP Combined Heat and Power EPO European Patent Office IP Intellectual Property JM Johnson Matthey MEA Membrane Electrode Assembly OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty R&D Research and Development USPTO United States Patent and Trademark Office WIPO World Intellectual Property Office

Fuel Cell Today, Gate 2, HQ Building, Orchard Road, Royston, Herts SG8 5HE, UKTel: +44 (0) 1763 256326 www.fuelcelltoday.com

Date post:	09-Feb-2022
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	2 times
Download:	0 times

2012 Fuel Cell Patent Review

Documents