Patent statistics: 2018 to 2019

These tables provide an overview of patent activity, based on the latest available statistics.

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Requests for examination

Figure 1: Requests for examination of patents
  2012 to 2013 2013 to 2014 2014 to 2015 2015 to 2016 2016 to 2017 2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
Patent requests for examination 28,161 28,497 28,776 28,596 28,199 28,046 30,163

Disposals

Figure 2: Patent disposals
  2012 to 2013 2013 to 2014 2014 to 2015 2015 to 2016 2016 to 2017 2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
Patent disposals 37,682 38,533 36,370 32,422 32,635 31,629 29,757

Turnaround times

Figure 3: Average turnaround times for granting a patent
  2012 to 2013 2013 to 2014 2014 to 2015 2015 to 2016 2016 to 2017 2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
Patent turnaround time (in months) 45.7 42.7 40.3 38.8 36.7 33.6 32.0

Applications by language

Patent applications filed by language
Language 2012 to 2013 2013 to 2014 2014 to 2015 2015 to 2016 2016 to 2017 2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
English 34,554 35,810 36,172 35,885 36,019 33,632 37,889
French 1,294 1,234 1,354 1,167 1,278 1,086 1,138
Total 35,848 37,044 37,526 37,052 37,297 34718 39,027

Applications, requests for examination and patents granted by sector

Patent applications filed, requests for examination and grants by sectors
  2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
Chemistry
Filed applications 11,903 13,095
Requests for examination 9,263 10,014
Grants 7,160 7,219
Electrical engineering
Filed applications 5,656 6,279
Requests for examination 4,798 5,005
Grants 4,483 3,994
Instruments
Filed applications 5,713 6,504
Requests for examination 4,769 5,430
Grants 4,341 4,076
Mechanical engineering
Filed applications 7,198 8,278
Requests for examination 5,900 6,434
Grants 5,264 5,023
Other fields
Filed applications 4,248 4,871
Requests for examination 3,316 3,280
Grants 2,956 2,781
All disciplines
Filed applications 34,718 39,027
Requests for examination 28,046 30,163
Grants 24,204 23,093

Applications and patents granted to residents of Canada and foreign countries

Applications filed and patents granted to residents of Canada and foreign countries (fiscal year 2018 to 2019)
Province, territory or country Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications filed Non-PCT applications filed Total applications filed Total patents granted
Alberta 241 660 901 383
British Columbia 250 380 630 220
Manitoba 27 114 141 71
New Brunswick 10 35 45 21
Newfoundland and Labrador 7 16 23 0
Northwest Territories 0 0 0 0
Nova Scotia 24 36 60 21
Nunavut 0 0 0 0
Ontario 614 1,387 2,001 939
Prince Edward Island 2 26 28 11
Quebec 379 710 1,089 453
Saskatchewan 14 106 120 79
Yukon 1 0 1 2
Residents of Canada (total) 1,569 3,470 5,039 2,200
Foreign countries 27,463 6,525 33,988 20,893
Total 29,032 9,995 39,027 23,093

Top 10 applicants

Top 10 patent applicants (fiscal year 2018 to 2019)
Applicant Number of applications filed
Qualcomm Incorporated 316
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. 271
General Electric Company 241
Walmart Apollo, LLC 234
The Boeing Company 197
Philip Morris Products S.A. 177
BASF SE 173
The Procter & Gamble Company 152
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. 148
NESTEC S.A. 141

Top 10 patentees

Top 10 patentees (fiscal year 2018 to 2019)
Patentee Number of patents granted
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. 485
General Electric Company 229
The Boeing Company 170
Blackberry Limited 157
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 135
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. 124
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha 118
The Procter & Gamble Company 116
Qualcomm Incorporated 112
F. Hoffmann- La Roche AG 108

Applications and patents granted by country as stated by the applicant

Patent applications filed and patents granted by country as stated by the applicant (fiscal year 2018 to 2019)
Country Filed Granted
Algeria 0 0
Andorra 2 1
Anguilla 0 1
Antigua and Barbuda 19 0
Argentina 9 2
Armenia 1 0
Aruba 0 1
Australia 489 233
Austria 305 193
Azerbaijan 0 0
Bahamas 4 9
Bahrain 0 0
Barbados 74 49
Belarus 0 0
Belgium 386 167
Belize 0 0
Benin 0 0
Bermuda 7 10
Bolivia 0 0
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 0
Brazil 48 31
British Virgin Islands 26 23
Brunei Darussalam 0 0
Bulgaria 4 0
Burkina Faso 0 0
Burundi 0 0
Cabo Verde 0 0
Canada 5,040 2,229
Cayman Islands 50 11
Central African Republic 0 0
Chile 31 14
China 1,278 569
Colombia 2 2
Cook Islands 3 0
Costa Rica 5 0
Croatia 4 0
Cuba 3 2
Cyprus 19 10
Côte d'Ivoire 2 0
Czech Republic 30 13
Czechoslovakia 0 0
Democratic People's Republic of Korea 0 1
Denmark 331 186
Dominica 0 0
Dominican Republic 1 0
Ecuador 2 1
Egypt 1 0
El Salvador 0 0
Estonia 6 2
Faroe Islands 0 1
Finland 293 167
France 1,541 1,070
Gabon 0 0
Gambia 1 0
Georgia 2 0
Germany 2,252 1,512
Gibraltar 0 1
Greece 21 7
Guatemala 0 0
Guinea 0 0
Guernsey 1 0
Guyana 0 0
Honduras 0 0
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China 1 17
Hungary 25 9
Iceland 7 5
India 167 68
Indonesia 0 0
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 1 0
Ireland 292 120
Isle of Man 3 3
Israel 521 173
Italy 651 347
Jamaica 0 0
Japan 1,873 1,621
Jersey 5 1
Jordan 1 0
Kazakhstan 0 0
Kenya 0 0
Kuwait 1 0
Latvia 2 4
Lebanon 3 2
Liechtenstein 50 24
Lithuania 0 0
Luxembourg 136 57
Macao 0 0
Macedonia 0 0
Madagascar 0 0
Malaysia 10 12
Maldives 0 0
Malta 11 13
Mauritius 1 2
Mexico 59 38
Monaco 3 1
Morocco 1 1
Namibia 1 0
Nepal 0 1
Netherlands 527 379
Netherlands Antilles 0 1
New Caledonia 0 0
New Zealand 79 72
Niger 0 0
Nigeria 1 0
Norway 281 142
Oman 0 0
Pakistan 0 2
Panama 0 1
Paraguay 0 0
Peru 1 2
Philippines 0 0
Poland 61 15
Portugal 26 11
Qatar 2 0
Republic of Korea 311 329
Republic of Moldova 1 0
Romania 4 1
Russian Federation 70 40
Saint Helena 0 1
Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 2
Saint Lucia 0 0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0 2
Samoa 1 0
San Marino 1 0
Saudi Arabia 62 46
Senegal 0 0
Serbia 2 1
Seychelles 3 4
Singapore 69 43
Slovakia 8 3
Slovenia 9 6
Somalia 0 6
South Africa 33 34
Spain 213 121
Sri Lanka 1 0
Sudan 0 0
Swaziland 0 0
Sweden 472 304
Switzerland 1,386 807
Syrian Arab Republic 0 0
Taiwan 41 65
Thailand 12 3
Trinidad and Tobago 1 2
Tunisia 1 0
Turkey 23 8
Turks and Caicos Islands 1 1
Ukraine 4 3
United Arab Emirates 9 2
United Kingdom 1,365 694
United States of America 17,819 10,901
Uruguay 3 0
Uzbekistan 0 0
Vanuatu 1 0
Vatican City State (Holy See) 0 0
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0 0
Viet Nam 4 2
Yugoslavia 0 0
Zaire 0 0
Zambia 0 0
Zimbabwe 0 0
Total 39,027 23,093

Patent Appeal Board operational statistics

Patent Appeal Board operational statistics
  2012 to 2013 2013 to 2014 2014 to 2015 2015 to 2016 2016 to 2017 2017 to 2018 2018 to 2019
Final actions
Referrals 20 34 28 65 91 75 101
Disposals 25 40 24 19 33 41 46
Industrial designs
Referrals 0 2 6 1 4 0 0
Disposals 0 0 2 6 5 0 0
Re-examination: section 48.1
Filings 6 6 4 12 2 15 11
Disposals 3 7 2 3 9 7 4
Candidates for agents examinations
Patents 231 218 439 471 433 440 406
Trademarks 57 69 71 89 111 142 120