Record number of applications for tech patents
THE number of patent applications for computer products and software has soared by more than a fifth in the last year as tech startups join the big names in developing products.
International patent applications for computer products rose 21 per cent to a record high of 17,324 in 2013 from 14,265 in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data.
“The dramatic increase in patent applications has been partly driven by an increase in R&D output of tech start-ups, the buoyant app market and a growing focus on wearable technology,” said Gwilym Roberts, author of A Practical Guide to Drafting Patents.
“The UK is benefiting from this substantial increase in patent applications for computer products,” Roberts added. “It is not just the giants like Apple, Google and Samsung that are filing these new patents – it is increasingly smaller companies from London’s Silicon roundabout, from Cambridge and other clusters such as the one growing up around GCHQ in Cheltenham.”
Wearable technology patent applications included an alert that tells the wearer if something has gone wrong with their vital organs.