Five Hungarian companies own almost all new Hungarian patents
EnglishNearly 31,000 industrial property rights applications are related to the largest Hungarian companies, but 97 percent of them are related to only 5 companies, a recent study by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) reveals. Geographically, these companies have economic interests in a fairly large area covering 114 countries. Chemical companies, pharmaceutical companies in particular, are the most active in IPR protection.
Historical data available in the databases show that a total of nearly 22,000 patent applications were filed by the 100 Hungarian companies that produce the largest gross added value (TOP100). In total, companies filed more than 8,800 applications for trademarks identifying the origin of products and services, while only 37 applications were filed for design protection. The study conducted by HIPO examined the industrial property protection activity of Hungarian companies by comparing the company top lists in 2015 and 2019.
In Hungary, 700 billion forints are spent on research and development annually. IPR-intensive industries account for nearly half of Hungary's GDP and almost a third of employment, which is higher than the EU average. Recognising the importance of protecting intellectual property, the largest domestic companies are increasingly using these IPR protection tools. Nevertheless, the activity of domestic firms in this area remains extremely concentrated, with only a few companies owning the vast majority of the applications
- emphasizes Gyula Pomázi, President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office.
The president also draws attention to the fact that the number of companies in the Hungarian SME sector that protect their innovation results is increasing year by year, and as a result of this the number of applications for almost all forms of IPR protection has increased despite the pandemic.
Of the TOP100, only five companies have filed more than 100 patent applications in total, four of which are in the pharmaceutical sector. In addition to Richter, Sanofi Group, EGIS Pharmaceuticals and TEVA Pharmaceuticals, MOL, which is primarily engaged in petroleum refining, is also in the top five.
Richter was the most active market player with a total of 8,984 applications.
In most cases, the companies surveyed applied for patents in Hungary (2,885 patent families), but also showed a wide spread in their IPR protection activity in terms of geography. The study points out that in terms of the largest domestic companies, Hungarian interest can be found in 114 countries, with countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia being of particular economic significance. The geographical distribution of the applications varied considerably by form of protection.
In the case of patents, the TOP100 companies filed the most applications in developed European and North American countries, after Hungary.
By contrast, most trademark applications were filed in the states of the former Soviet Union (mainly by chemical companies), while the vast majority of design protection applications were in the Member States of the European Union.
The full study is available at this link.
