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LG Takes Top Spot in Australian Patent Filings, While Aristocrat Slides Down Rankings

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2021-2022 SignpostAfter two years on top of Australian patent filing charts – including a remarkable (by Australian standards) 435 applications in 2020 – Chinese telecommunications manufacturer OPPO dropped back to third position in 2021.  The top spot was taken by last year’s runner-up, South Korea’s LG Electronics, which filed 251 new Australian standard patent applications, up from 236 in 2020.  China’s Huawei Technologies took second place, with 243 new applications, also increasing its filings, up from 229 in 2020.  Huawei now owns nearly 1,300 live Australian patents and applications, which is a significant investment for a company that is effectively barred from the Australian market.  It is likely, however, that many of these patents and applications cover standardised mobile and data communications technologies that are implemented across the industry, and which therefore provide Huawei with a substantial stream of licensing income.

The top Australian resident applicant, once again, was electronic gaming system developer Aristocrat Technologies.  However, from a peak of 252 applications filed in 2018, Aristocrat’s filings have declined significantly.  It filed only 72 new standard patent applications in 2021, falling to equal 21st place in the annual ranking (alongside the University of Texas System).  Over the same period, Aristocrat has been engaged in a Federal Court battle with the Australian Patent Office in an effort to establish the patent-eligibility of many of its gaming-related inventions, recently suffering a setback in the form of a loss on appeal to a Full Bench of the Court.

The leading antipodean applicant is now New Zealand’s Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (which is separate these days from the well-known maker of home appliances).  Fisher & Paykel Healthcare filed 127 Australian standard patent applications in 2021, up from 94 the previous year, to take 7th place in the rankings.  Ironically, the leading filer of New Zealand patent applications in 2021 was Australian medical device manufacturer Resmed, with 142 filings, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare appears to have no interest in patent protection in its domestic market.  Meanwhile, Resmed followed the opposite trans-Tasman strategy, filing just 25 applications in its home market of Australia.

No other Australian (or New Zealand) applicant appeared in the top 30 filers for 2021.  The next highest Australian applicant, after Aristocrat, was the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), with 48 applications, followed by NewSouth Innovations (the University of New South Wales’ commercialisation arm) on 29.  The Australian top five was rounded out by Breville (26) and Resmed (25).

The top three filers of provisional applications were CSIRO (56), Resmed (51), and NewSouth Innovations (47).

Innovation patent filings were dominated, in the final few months of full operation of the system, by Chinese and Indian applicants, of which the top two were China’s Qingdao Agricultural University, and the delightfully-named Lovely Professional University in India.  The leading ‘credible’ filers of innovation patent applications in 2021 were US-based Calerpillar Inc (31 filings), agricultural chemical developer Imtrade Australia (26 filings), and Australian radio technology company Benelec (14 filings).

Read on for full tables of the leading filers for each application type.

Top Standard Patent Applicants

The table below lists the top 30 applicants for Australian standard patents, from all countries of origin.

Rank Applicant Name Country Filings
1 LG ELECTRONICS INC KR 251
2 HUAWEI TECH LTD CN 243
3 GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMS LTD CN 194
4 APPLE INC US 150
5 SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE SA CH 146
6 CITRIX SYSTEMS INC US 135
7 FISHER & PAYKEL HEALTHCARE LTD NZ 127
8 BECTON DICKINSON & CO US 116
9 NICOVENTURES TRADING LTD GB 114
10 REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS INC US 113
11 HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC US 111
12 NOVARTIS AG CH 107
13 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA US 103
=14 QUALCOMM INC US 99
=14 ILLUMINA INC US 99
16 DEERE & CO US 95
=17 F HOFFMAN LA ROCHE AG CH 84
=17 AMGEN INC US 84
19 CATERPILLAR INC US 82
20 COLGATE-PALMOLIVE CO US 75
=21 ARISTOCRAT TECH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD AU 72
=21 THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM US 72
23 WL GORE & ASSOCIATES INC US 71
24 BASF SE DE 69
=25 SENSETIME INTL PTE LTD SG 66
=25 GOOGLE INC US 66
=27 TENCENT AMERICA LLC US 64
=27 BOEING CO US 64
29 BAYER AG DE 61
30 BOSTON SCIENTIFIC SCIMED INC US 60

Leading Australian-Resident Standard Patent Applicants

The following table lists the top Australian applicants for standard patents.  Only Aristocrat, on 72 filings, also appears in the previous table of overall leaders.  The next Australian entrant, CSIRO, placed equal-47th on the main rankings, along with Belgium’s Janssen Pharmeceutica NV.  It is good to see Australian ‘unicorn’ Canva – which managed to achieve a valuation exceeding a billion dollars without much regard for protecting its patentable IP – appearing on this list.  Canva has also been expanding its patent portfolio elsewhere, most notably in the US.

Rank Australian Applicant Name Filings
1 ARISTOCRAT TECH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 72
2 COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO) 48
3 NEWSOUTH INNOVATIONS PTY LTD 29
4 BREVILLE PTY LTD 26
5 RESMED LTD 25
6 MONASH UNIVERSITY 21
7 UNIQUEST PTY LTD 19
=8 CANVA PTY LTD 18
=8 UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 18
10 GRAND PERFORMANCE ONLINE PTY LTD 17
11 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 15
=12 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE 14
=12 TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES PTY LTD 14
14 CHEP TECH PTY LTD 12
=15 XARD GROUP PTY LTD 10
=15 AGRICULTURE VICTORIA SERVICES PTY LTD 10
=15 IP RESERVE PTY LTD 10
=18 GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY 9
=18 ADAMA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 9
=18 ILUKA RESOURCES LTD 9
=18 AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECH ORGANISATION 9
=18 FASTBRICK IP PTY LTD 9
=18 COUNCIL OF THE QUEENSLAND INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH 9

Top Provisional Applicants

The table below lists the top 20 filers of provisional applications in 2021.  Almost all provisional applicants are Australian.  The only ‘fully’ foreign applicant on the list is New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative Group, at equal-20th position.  Cloud accounting software provider Xero, placed equal-16th, is also a New Zealand company, but it has a presence in Australia, and has filed its applications as an Australian resident.  (Unlike some other patent offices, and the international PCT system administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, IP Australia’s public data does not separately identify an applicant’s countries of nationality and residence.)

The list includes the usual selection of prolific individual filers.  There are a few of these each year (though not always the same ones).  Rarely, if ever, do any of their applications proceed beyond the provisional stage.

Rank Applicant Name Country Filings
1 COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION (CSIRO) AU 56
2 RESMED LTD AU 51
3 NEWSOUTH INNOVATIONS PTY LTD AU 47
=4 MONASH UNIVERSITY AU 46
=4 ANTHONY JOHN SCOLARO AU 46
6 UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY AU 34
7 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE AU 31
8 DOT DESIGN GROUP PTY LTD AU 30
9 UNIQUEST PTY LTD AU 25
10 BREVILLE PTY LTD AU 20
11 UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE AU 17
12 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY AU 14
=13 RMIT UNIVERSITY AU 13
=13 SALUDA MEDICAL PTY LTD AU 13
=13 NORMAN L MATTHEWS AU 13
=16 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA AU 12
=16 WALTER & ELIZA HALL INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH AU 12
=16 XERO LTD AU 12
=16 JULIANNE MARY CRIPPS CLARK AU 12
=20 FONTERRA COOPERATIVE GROUP LTD NZ 11
=20 SOUTH EASTERN SYDNEY LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT AU 11

Top Innovation Patent Applicants

The following table lists the top 20 applicants for innovation patents.  As expected, the list is dominated by Chinese and Indian applicants.  I find the number of ostensibly reputable organisations (i.e. universities and research institutes) surprising, although I probably should not.  (Yes, the Lovely Professional University is a real place, which claims to be the 36th ranked university in India, based on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.)  At first glance, the only genuine users of the innovation patent system on this list are Caterpillar and Imtrade Australia.

Rank Applicant Name Country Filings
1 QINGDAO AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY CN 131
2 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY IN 82
3 XUZHOU UNIVERSITY OF TECH CN 79
4 HINDUSTAN INSTITUTE OF TECH & SCIENCE IN 53
5 SOUTHWEST UNIVERSITY CN 44
=6 SHANGHAI OCEAN UNIVERSITY CN 35
=6 PRASUN DR CHAKRABARTI IN 35
=8 QILU UNIVERSITY OF TECH CN 33
=8 SHENZHEN THOUSANDSHORES TECH LTD CN 33
10 QINGDAO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECH CN 32
=11 SICHUAN AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY CN 31
=11 CATERPILLAR INC US 31
13 HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECH CN 30
14 CHINA RAILWAY 18TH BUREAU GROUP LTD CN 28
=15 DR VISHWANATH KARAD MIT WORLD PEACE UNIVERSITY IN 26
=15 YESHWANTRAO CHAVAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING IN 26
=15 DATTA MEGHE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES IN 26
=15 IMTRADE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD AU 26
=19 MANIPAL UNIVERSITY JAIPUR IN 25
=19 CHINA RAILWAY 18 BUREAU GROUP LTD CN 25

Leading Australian-Resident Innovation Patent Applicants

The final table below lists the top Australian applicants for innovation patents.  Once foreign applicants are filtered out, it is apparent that the main Australian users of the system are the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that it was intended to support.  Some of the companies appearing on this list were among those that made or contributed to submissions in support of the innovation patent system when its fate was being debated.  It is fitting that they have continued to make use of the system up to the end of its full operation.  Some will no doubt continue to file divisional innovation patent applications based upon filings made prior to 26 August 2021 over the coming months and years, although presumably not in the same numbers.

Rank Applicant Name Innovation Filings
1 IMTRADE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 26
2 BENELEC PTY LTD 14
=3 TAO HONG 9
=3 NAGARAJU DOMMARAJUKRISHNAMARAJU 9
=5 GROWPLAY PTY LTD 8
=5 MARK ANDREW FRASER 8
=7 MICROBIAL SCREENING TECH PTY LTD 7
=7 LEASEN STEEL INTL PTY LTD 7
=7 SENSEN NETWORKS GROUP PTY LTD 7
=10 AME SYSTEMS VIC PTY LTD 6
=10 GREENTECH INTL PTY LTD 6
=10 DATT FINTECH INNOVATIONS PTY LTD 6
=10 ADAMA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 6
=10 BBOX FOR KIDS DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD 6
=15 INFRABUILD WIRE PTY LTD 5
=15 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS PTY LTD 5
=15 MATHEW RAYMUND NORTON 5
=15 POWERPAL PTY LTD 5
=15 SAYFA R & D PTY LTD 5
=15 TAG 360 PTY LTD 5
=15 TRENT BRIDGE VIC ENGINEERING PTY LTD 5
=15 BUZZWORKS PTY LTD 5
=15 WEI HONG 5
=15 RUDDER TECH PTY LTD 5
=15 KEVIN JASON WATSON 5
=15 MOTH DIAGNOSTICS 5
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