Protecting the Protection: What can Patent Filing Trends ...
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p.36 CORROSION & MATERIALS June 2012 www.corrosion.com.au p.37 Summary 20,000 global patent families (containing 60,000 patents in total) filed in the area of corrosion management in the last decade were reviewed as a guide to trends in corrosion technology. Annual patent filings grew from around 1500 to around 2,000 per year over this decade. However this growth in patent filings hide a significant fall in patent families from Japanese applicants, and an even larger rise in patent filings from Chinese applicants. Applicants from South Korea, the US and Germany were also prolific filers, with applicants from the US and Germany most likely to file patents outside of their home countries. This was much less likely with Chinese, South Korean or Japanese applicants. The most active technology area for patent filings was anti-corrosion paints, followed by galvanising and multilayer coatings. Anti-corrosion paints were also the fastest growing area. Only about 5% of these patent families had Australian family members, and only 31 families in total originated in Australia, which is a lower proportion than we have seen in some other technologies. The leading applicant filing into Australia was Henkel of Germany, followed by Nippon Steel and PPG Industries of the US. Overall, there appears to be healthy global activity in the patenting of corrosion technologies which is likely to reflect R&D of new inventions in corrosion treatments. However, very little of this patenting activity appears to be happening in Australia. Introduction Corrosion presents a significant issue to a wide range of industries. It has been estimated that the annual global cost of corrosion is over 3% of global GDP 1 or around US$2.2 trillion. Addressing corrosion problems will continue to require ongoing research to find new and innovative solutions 2 . Whilst these problems are significant and varying, they can also be seen as an opportunity, as they offer appreciable commercial rewards for finding and implementing new solutions. As in any technical field, research into finding such new and innovative solutions for managing corrosion often results in the filing of patent applications. Patents can therefore provide a source of information on what research is being conducted, information that might not be available through other means. By studying patent filing trends in a technical field, such as corrosion, an insight can be gained into the areas within that field that are being researched including who is doing this research and where the resulting outcomes are being patented. Moreover, many patent applications contain commercially valuable solutions to common problems in an industry. Since most patent applications are only filed in one or a handful of countries, the inventions disclosed in these patent applications may be freely available to use in other countries. In this paper we look at global patent filings in corrosion related technologies in the last decade in order to understand trends in technology development and the associated patent filings. What we did To analyse patent trends in corrosion related technologies, we first produced a data set of relevant patents by conducting a search in the Patbase commercial patent database. The search was based on classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC) 3 . All patents are independently classified by various Patent Offices into relevant classes of the International Patent Classification, and patents are regularly classified in more than one class. Classes of the International Patent Classification that we searched were: C09D: Paints C09K: Anti-oxidant compositions and compositions for inhibiting chemical change C23: Coating metals, inhibiting corrosion, anodic and cathodic protection and surface treatment We filtered the search results by combining the above classes with relevant keywords including “corrosion”, “corrode”, “rust”, “anticorrosion” and “galvanise”. Finally, so that we were considering only recent patent trends in corrosion technologies, we limited our search results to patents having a priority date of on or after 1 January 1998 4 . The reason for choosing this date is that publication of a patent (except in special circumstances) does not occur until 18 months after its priority date. Therefore, this priority date limitation will capture patents that were published from mid-1999. At the other end of the timeline for our results, this 18 month publication delay in the normal patent process means that our patent data becomes less reliable in capturing all patents that have been filed since mid-2010. The search results contained 21,478 patent families containing approximately 60,000 patents. A patent family consists of one or more patents directed to the same invention. Typically, a patent family consists of an initial patent application in the home country of the patent applicant and any corresponding patents filed overseas for the same invention as in the initial patent application and claiming the same priority date. Our analysis of the search results is based on patent families because, as a general principal, one patent family equals one invention. Protecting the Protection: What can Patent Filing Trends Tell us About Technology Trends in Corrosion Treatments? INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT What we found Corrosion patent filings sat at around 1500 patent families annually worldwide in the first part of the decade searched, but then grew toward the end of the decade, Figure 1. The major Asian countries Japan, China and South Korea dominate the overall patent filings. Japanese patents have been falling from approximately 900 patent families to approximately 300 patent families, but Chinese filings have been increasing by more than enough to compensate for this. This phenomenon of Asian and in particular Chinese growth in patent filings is not contained to corrosion related technology, but is seen across many technical fields and overall patent filings 5 . While there is a drop-off after 2009, it is hard to say at this stage how much of this is due to the 18 month publication delay for patents. Hence, this drop-off in very recent patent filings should be ignored, at least until for a year or two until after this very recent data can be confirmed. The relative proportion of US patents is lower than we have seen in other technical fields we have looked at. It is not clear why this is so. The majority of corrosion patents are only filed in the applicant’s home country, Figure 2. Figure 2 shows that Chinese patent applicants almost entirely only file Chinese corrosion patents. Similarly, the majority of Japanese and South Korean corrosion patents are only filed in their respective home countries. This is also a result that is observed across many other technical fields. In respect of Chinese patents, it has been reported 6 that the Chinese government offers a range of incentives to businesses and researchers to file more patents, which may be the cause of the results shown in Figures 1 and 2. This has led to a debate on the quality of these Chinese patents. However, any assessment of patent quality is beyond the scope of this paper. Figure 2 suggests that Chinese patent applicants have a very inward view on corrosion technology, particularly compared to US and German companies which are more likely than not to file overseas patents. Hence, despite the increased patenting activity, China may still be a net importer of corrosion innovation. US and German companies, on the other hand, have a much more outward facing view with respect to their corrosion technologies and seek to export those technologies overseas. Figure 2 also suggests that China and Japan are a potential source of corrosion technology which can be used overseas, including in Australia, without patent infringement. The legal protection provided by a patent is limited to the jurisdiction in which it is filed. Accordingly, the subject matter of the Chinese and Japanese patents only filed in their respective countries may be used in other countries without infringing those patents. The most popular IPC patent class for corrosion patents was C09D 5/08 “Anti-corrosion paints”, particularly in the last four years, Figure 3. Anti- corrosion paints has also seen a strong increase in patenting activity over the past decade from around 500 patent families during 1999-2002 to nearly 1000 patent families by 2007-2010, making it the fastest growing patent class. The next most active class is zinc or cadmium based hot dipping. As zinc hot dipping is used to produce galvanised steel for both building and automotive industries, there is probably some correlation here with the industrialisation of China. Figures 4 and 5 set out the top 10 patent applicants for all patent families (Figure 4) and for patent families which include at least one non-home country patent (Figure 5). Japanese companies dominate the overall leading corrosion patent family filers, Figure 4. It is also noted that the top five overall patent family filers are steel companies. However, when international corrosion patent families are considered, Figure 5, the leading companies are more widespread in their location and business interests. An interesting aspect of Figures 4 and 5 is that there are no Chinese entities amongst the leading corrosion patent filers. This suggests that, in China, patent activity and research in corrosion is more widespread but less concentrated, whereas patent activity in Japan, the US, Germany and Korea in corrosion technology is carried out by only a relatively small number of key players. Figure 1: Overall trends in filing of corrosion patent families Rest of world Number of corrosion patent families filed in each year Number of corrosion patent families filed 2000 to 2011 Japan and increasingly China lead global corrosion patent family findings Priority year for patent filings First priority country of patent filing 2500 2000 1500 1000 2000 South Korea US Russia Germany Rest of world Japan China 2002 2006 2008 2010 500 0 Germany Russia US South Korea China Japan 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Outside of home country Only home country Figure 2: Analysis of whether patents are being filed outside of the applicant’s home country
Transcript of Protecting the Protection: What can Patent Filing Trends ...
p.36 CORROSION & MATERIALS June 2012 www.corrosion.com.au p.37
Summary20,000 global patent families (containing 60,000 patents in total) filed in the area of corrosion management in the last decade were reviewed as a guide to trends in corrosion technology. Annual patent filings grew from around 1500 to around 2,000 per year over this decade. However this growth in patent filings hide a significant fall in patent families from Japanese applicants, and an even larger rise in patent filings from Chinese applicants. Applicants from South Korea, the US and Germany were also prolific filers, with applicants from the US and Germany most likely to file patents outside of their home countries. This was much less likely with Chinese, South Korean or Japanese applicants.
The most active technology area for patent filings was anti-corrosion paints, followed by galvanising and multilayer coatings. Anti-corrosion paints were also the fastest growing area.
Only about 5% of these patent families had Australian family members, and only 31 families in total originated in Australia, which is a lower proportion than we have seen in some other technologies. The leading applicant filing into Australia was Henkel of Germany, followed by Nippon Steel and PPG Industries of the US. Overall, there appears to be healthy global activity in the patenting of corrosion technologies which is likely to reflect R&D of new inventions in corrosion treatments. However, very little of this patenting activity appears to be happening in Australia.
IntroductionCorrosion presents a significant issue to a wide range of industries. It has been estimated that the annual global cost of corrosion is over 3% of global GDP1 or around US$2.2 trillion. Addressing corrosion problems will continue to require ongoing research to find new and innovative solutions2. Whilst these
problems are significant and varying, they can also be seen as an opportunity, as they offer appreciable commercial rewards for finding and implementing new solutions.
As in any technical field, research into finding such new and innovative solutions for managing corrosion often results in the filing of patent applications. Patents can therefore provide a source of information on what research is being conducted, information that might not be available through other means. By studying patent filing trends in a technical field, such as corrosion, an insight can be gained into the areas within that field that are being researched including who is doing this research and where the resulting outcomes are being patented.
Moreover, many patent applications contain commercially valuable solutions to common problems in an industry. Since most patent applications are only filed in one or a handful of countries, the inventions disclosed in these patent applications may be freely available to use in other countries.
In this paper we look at global patent filings in corrosion related technologies in the last decade in order to understand trends in technology development and the associated patent filings.
What we didTo analyse patent trends in corrosion related technologies, we first produced a data set of relevant patents by conducting a search in the Patbase commercial patent database. The search was based on classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC)3. All patents are independently classified by various Patent Offices into relevant classes of the International Patent Classification, and patents are regularly classified in more than one class.
Classes of the International Patent Classification that we searched were:
C09D: Paints
C09K: Anti-oxidant compositions and compositions for inhibiting chemical change
C23: Coating metals, inhibiting corrosion, anodic and cathodic protection and surface treatment
We filtered the search results by combining the above classes with relevant keywords including “corrosion”, “corrode”, “rust”, “anticorrosion” and “galvanise”.
Finally, so that we were considering only recent patent trends in corrosion technologies, we limited our search results to patents having a priority date of on or after 1 January 19984. The reason for choosing this date is that publication of a patent (except in special circumstances) does not occur until 18 months after its priority date. Therefore, this priority date limitation will capture patents that were published from mid-1999. At the other end of the timeline for our results, this 18 month publication delay in the normal patent process means that our patent data becomes less reliable in capturing all patents that have been filed since mid-2010.
The search results contained 21,478 patent families containing approximately 60,000 patents. A patent family consists of one or more patents directed to the same invention. Typically, a patent family consists of an initial patent application in the home country of the patent applicant and any corresponding patents filed overseas for the same invention as in the initial patent application and claiming the same priority date. Our analysis of the search results is based on patent families because, as a general principal, one patent family equals one invention.
Protecting the Protection: What can Patent Filing Trends Tell us About Technology Trends in Corrosion Treatments?
INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT
What we foundCorrosion patent filings sat at around 1500 patent families annually worldwide in the first part of the decade searched, but then grew toward the end of the decade, Figure 1.
The major Asian countries Japan, China and South Korea dominate the overall patent filings. Japanese patents have been falling from approximately 900 patent families to approximately 300 patent families, but Chinese filings have been increasing by more than enough to compensate for this. This phenomenon of Asian and in particular Chinese growth in patent filings is not contained to corrosion related technology, but is seen across many technical fields and overall patent filings5.
While there is a drop-off after 2009, it is hard to say at this stage how much of this is due to the 18 month publication delay for patents. Hence, this drop-off in very recent patent filings should be ignored, at least until for a year or two until after this very recent data can be confirmed.
The relative proportion of US patents is lower than we have seen in other technical fields we have looked at. It is not clear why this is so.
The majority of corrosion patents are only filed in the applicant’s home country, Figure 2.
Figure 2 shows that Chinese patent applicants almost entirely only file Chinese corrosion patents. Similarly, the majority of Japanese and South Korean corrosion patents are only filed
in their respective home countries. This is also a result that is observed across many other technical fields. In respect of Chinese patents, it has been reported6 that the Chinese government offers a range of incentives to businesses and researchers to file more patents, which may be the cause of the results shown in Figures 1 and 2. This has led to a debate on the quality of these Chinese patents. However, any assessment of patent quality is beyond the scope of this paper.
Figure 2 suggests that Chinese patent applicants have a very inward view on corrosion technology, particularly compared to US and German companies which are more likely than not to file overseas patents. Hence, despite the increased patenting activity, China may still be a net importer of corrosion innovation. US and German companies, on the other hand, have a much more outward facing view with respect to their corrosion technologies and seek to export those technologies overseas.
Figure 2 also suggests that China and Japan are a potential source of corrosion technology which can be used overseas, including in Australia, without patent infringement. The legal protection provided by a patent is limited to the jurisdiction in which it is filed. Accordingly, the subject matter of the Chinese and Japanese patents only filed in their respective countries may be used in other countries without infringing those patents.
The most popular IPC patent class for corrosion patents was C09D 5/08
“Anti-corrosion paints”, particularly in the last four years, Figure 3. Anti-corrosion paints has also seen a strong increase in patenting activity over the past decade from around 500 patent families during 1999-2002 to nearly 1000 patent families by 2007-2010, making it the fastest growing patent class. The next most active class is zinc or cadmium based hot dipping. As zinc hot dipping is used to produce galvanised steel for both building and automotive industries, there is probably some correlation here with the industrialisation of China.
Figures 4 and 5 set out the top 10 patent applicants for all patent families (Figure 4) and for patent families which include at least one non-home country patent (Figure 5).
Japanese companies dominate the overall leading corrosion patent family filers, Figure 4. It is also noted that the top five overall patent family filers are steel companies. However, when international corrosion patent families are considered, Figure 5, the leading companies are more widespread in their location and business interests.
An interesting aspect of Figures 4 and 5 is that there are no Chinese entities amongst the leading corrosion patent filers. This suggests that, in China, patent activity and research in corrosion is more widespread but less concentrated, whereas patent activity in Japan, the US, Germany and Korea in corrosion technology is carried out by only a relatively small number of key players.
Figure 1: Overall trends in filing of corrosion patent families
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Figure 2: Analysis of whether patents are being filed outside of the applicant’s home country
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not filing patents in Australia as much as they are filing in other countries. To an extent, this reflects the relative size of Australia’s economy and the likelihood these companies consider that they will make a return on their investment in an Australian patent, as compared to patents filed in other countries. It does present, however, a further opportunity for Australia companies to potentially use commercially useful corrosion technologies which are the subject of patent protection overseas but not in Australia (subject to a confirmation from a suitably qualified patent specialist).
Interestingly, for Australian corrosion patents, companies from the oil & gas industry (Exxon Mobile and Baker Hughes) and pipe manufacturers (Thyssen Krupp, Nippon Steel, JFE Steel and Sumitomo) are amongst the leading filers of corrosion patents. The Japanese companies aside, this is very different to the list of leading patent filers globally and perhaps reflects the increased commercial activity in CSG and LNG projects throughout Australia.
DiscussionCorrosion is an issue of global significance and, not surprisingly, is attracting worldwide R&D effort. This is reflected in over 1500 new patent families per year, in theory each for unique inventions (in practice there is likely to be significant overlap in these inventions). In some ways, the types of inventions filed are not overly surprising, being predominately focused on coatings and galvanising type treatments.
What is perhaps more surprising is where these patents came from. In many other areas of technology we have reviewed, the US has been a leading source of technology. In contrast, Japan, China and South Korea lead the patent filings in this study. This may reflect the recent growth in the economies of the last two countries, and the long standing engineering excellence of many Japanese companies. However, the majority of the patent families filed in Japan, China and South Korea are only filed in these countries, which may reflect local factors that encourage applicants to file local patents.
The number of patent families filed by Australian applicants is very low, again in comparison to other technical areas. It is unrealistic to expect Australia to be at the forefront of every technical area, and the relatively small size of the Australian engineering sector
Figure 6 shows the leading Chinese corrosion patent filers. One of those leading filers is BYD, a rechargeable battery, electric car and solar company which Warren Buffet has a 10% stake in. Another interesting aspect of Figure 6 is that the profile of Chinese corrosion patent filers includes companies from a wider variety of industries but, in particular, is dominated by universities and research institutions. This can be compared to the national steel makers in Japan and Korea and the multi-national chemical and engineering firms from Germany and the US. It is still unclear how many of these university and research institute originating inventions will eventually be commercialised.
Only 31 of these patent families originate from Australia, Figure 7. These low numbers make it difficult to reliable draw any trends from this data.
In contrast, there were a total of 1078 patent families with Australian family members. Figures 8 and 9 show what corrosion patents have been filed in Australia by applicant, whether an Australian or overseas-based applicant (Figure 8) and by area of technology (Figure 9). As shown in Figure 8, the leading filers of corrosion related patents were US, German and Japanese companies. There are no Chinese filers amongst these top ten applicants. Henkel (sealants and surface treatments) led this list, although their activity has slowed as of late.
In Figure 9 it can be seen that, as with the global situation in Figure 1, anti-corrosion paints is the leading area of corrosion technology for Australian patents. Zinc or cadmium based hot dipping is of much lower importance for Australian patents than globally. This perhaps reflects the difficulties of Australia’s local steel businesses as well as the fact that many of the leading global patent filers are Japanese and Korean steel makers who don’t file large numbers of corrosion patents in Australia.
Overall, only about 5% of global patent families had Australian family members. Even US and German companies, who have a tendency to export their technology and file overseas patents, are
B32B 15/08, Layered products of metal and resin
B05D 07/14, Chemical binding of liquid coatings
C23C 02/06, Zinc or cadium based hot dipping
C09D 5/08, Anti-corrosive paints
C09D 163/00, Epoxy resin coatings
C23C 28/00, Multi-layer coating
C23F 11/00, Corrosion inhibitors
C22C 38/00, Steel alloys
C23F 13/00, Anodic or cathodic protection of metals
C23C 02/00, Tin or alloys based hot dipping
1999 – 2002
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2007 – 2010
The majority of corrosion patents are only filed in the applicant’s home country
Shanghai University and BaoSteel led list of Chinese corrosion patent family filers
Japanese companies lead patent applicants (all patent families)
But the leading companies are more widespread when international patent families are considered
Only small numbers of patent families come from Australia
Henkel was the leading filer in Australia, but has greatly slowed activity. Nippon Steel, PPG Industries (coatings) and ExxonMobil (lubricants and surface treatments)
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Figure 3: Leading IPC classes for corrosion patent filings
Figure 4: Top ten corrosion patent filers (all applicants)
Figure 5: Top ten corrosion patent filers (international families only)
Nippon Steel (JP)
Henkel (Germany)
Nippon Steel (JP)
PPG Industries (US)
Exxonmobil (US)
ThyssenKrupp (Germany)
JFE Steel (JP)
Chemetall (US)
Baker Hughes (US)
Sumitomo (JP)
Nippon Paint (JP)
JFE Steel (JP)
JFE Steel (JP)
POSCO (KR)
Nippon Steel (JP)
Sumitomo (JP)
General Electric (US)
Kawasaki Steel (JP)
Hitachi (JP)
Kansai Paint Co. (JP)
Kansai Paint Co. (JP)
Hitachi (JP)
Siemens (Germany)
Nisshin Steel (JP)
Nippon Paint Co. (JP)
Mitsubishi (JP)
POSCO (KR)
Nippon Paint Co. (JP)
Nihon Parkerizing (JP)
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2003 – 2006
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Kunming University of Science and Technology
Zhejiang University
Anji Microelectronics
Institute of Oceanology
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Wuxi Linlong Aluminium
Baosteel
Shanghai University
Tianjin Zhendong PaintsChina National
Petroleum Corporation
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Figure 6: Top ten corrosion patent filers from China
Figure 7: Trends for Australian originating patents
Figure 8: Leader filings of corrosion patents in Australia
Figure 9: Leading IPC classes for corrosion patents filed in Australia
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C09D 5/08, Anti-corrosive paints
C23C 28/00, Multi-layer coating
C23F 11/00, Corrosion inhibitors
C23C 02/06, Zin or cadium based hot dipping
C23F 13/00, Anodic or Cathodic protection of metals
B05D 07/14, Chemical binding of liquid coatings
C09D 163/00, Epoxy resin coatings
B32B 15/08, Layered products of metal and resin
C22C 38/00, Steel alloys
C23C 02/00, Tin or alloys based hot dipping
Anti-corrosive paints most popular IPC class for corrosion patents filed in Australia
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may mean that it has little natural competitive advantage in this area. This is entirely understandable, but does raise a risk for Australia. For a country to absorb a new technology, the technology has to be easy to understand or at least use (for example new paint formulations), or there must be significant expertise within that country that is capable of understanding and applying this new technology. This in fact is a key role of researchers, not just developing new technology but also understanding and applying new technologies developed elsewhere. On the other hand, many new corrosion treatments such as new paints may be relatively easy to apply, regardless of their underlying sophisticated technologies. Also the importers of these technologies will often provide technical support to their
users as part of their service. Overall, given Australia’s limited resources, the results of this patent study perhaps indicate an ongoing need for corrosion research and knowledge building in this country to be focussed on problems specific to Australia and in technology fields which are not readily adopted from overseas.
Andrew Davey and Mike Lloyd Griffith Hack
References[1] http://www.corrosion.org/images_index/nowisthetime.pdf
[2] http://www.corrosion.org/images_index/whitepaper.pdf
[3] http://www.wipo.int/ipcpub/#refresh=page
[4] The priority date of a patent is the date of filing of the first patent application which discloses the invention of the subject patent and is date at which the validity of a patent is assessed. A further patent may be filed for the same invention and claim the priority date of the first filed application (within specific time limits). Thus the priority date of a patent can be different from its filing date.
[5] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-patents-idUSTRE82416120120305 and http://www.economist.com/node/17257940?story_id=17257940
[6] http://www.economist.com/node/17257940?story_id=17257940
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