72% of SMEs to Maintain or Increase Foreign Patent Filings
14 December 2012
Belts may have been tightened as far as they will go with IP budgets stabilizing for 2010, according to the results of a study released by New York-based inovia, a company which provides a foreign filing platform for intellectual property owners.
According to the firm, 72% of corporate patent professionals surveyed in a recent study of 150+ small to medium-sized US businesses expect to maintain or increase their foreign patent filings in 2010, as compared to 2009.
According to the survey, US IP Trends: Global Patent Protection in 2010, the majority of companies surveyed had their IP budgets cut in the last 12-18 months. In fact, almost 40% experienced a cut of more than 30% of their budget.
“The survey findings validate what we suspected: US firms’ IP budgets were hit hard in 2009 but things are expected to improve this year,” said Justin Simpson, founder and executive director of inovia. “To help cope with these budget cuts, companies are demanding more cost-efficient methods to gain global patent protection for their US innovations.”
The survey also found:
• 72% of respondents brought some patenting procedures in-house in the last 12-18 months. Approximately half of the companies surveyed have no further plans to bring any steps in-house in 2010.
• 78% of respondents have previously filed or plan to file in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and/or China) this year.
• The cost-saving measure most cited for 2009 was to reduce the number of foreign countries entered. Specifically, between 2008 and 2010 there was an overall decrease in the average number of countries entered – from 6.6 countries in 2008 to 6.3 countries planned for 2010.