UK trails in approving patents

Companies or individuals trying to patent their innovations in the UK are forced to wait four months longer for approval than the worldwide average, which could be hindering creative progress.

Patent examination requests at a UK office take an average of 31 months to get a final decision, according to tax relief firm Catax, which studied the latest World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) statistics for patent offices across the globe. The worldwide average is 27 months.

The detail of the approval process differs in each jurisdiction, but in general terms it must determine whether the claimed innovation is novel, not obvious and industrially applicable.

Armenia leads the way, with applicants waiting just 3.4 months to gain patent approval, followed by Iceland (five months), Iran and Mongolia (nine months) and Monaco (ten months).

Despite lagging behind the average, the UK’S patent processing times are still better than some economic powerhouses, including Brazil, where inventors can expect to wait eight years on average.

China, which has the highest number of applications in the world, takes 11.8 months to process patents.

Catax CEO, Mark Tighe, said: “We want to encourage creative thought and invention in this country, not stymie it, and this research clearly demonstrates how slow things can be.

“While patent law is complex andthedecision-makingprocess can be very involved, it is undeniable that the UK’S performance is poor. It takes far longer than the global average to get approval and the volume of applications cannot be to blame, given that China takes around a third of the time on average.

“We are rightly proud of our reputation for innovation in this country, from the steam engine to the telephone, so it’s vital our intellectual property mechanism is world leading, too.”