Indian cos filed 1,388 patents in US in 2019; tech, AI led the list

Over 1,300 patents were filed by Indian firms in the US in 2018-19 across domains like pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, chemistry and communication technology, a report by industry body Nasscom said.

A total of 1,338 patents were filed in 2018-19, of which 59.4% were tech patents, with computer technology, communication technology and AI being the top domain areas, the report said. IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and HCL were among the top filers.

The report is based on data extracted from Questel Orbit Patent Database as on January 31, 2020 with the support of Sagacious IP. It noted that 2018-19 data is provisional data, considering there is a window of approximately 18 months from the filing date to the publication date.

Thus some of the patent applications filed for 2018 and 2019 may not have been published (disclosed in the public domain) yet, it added. The provisional number for 2017-18 was 1,287.

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Among the non-tech patents (40.6%) in 2018-19, the top domain areas were chemistry and chemical compositions, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical and structural inventions. The top filers included Reliance Industries Ltd, Sun Pharma, Welspun and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

The report said AI continues to lead in terms of total patents filed under emerging technology, while cloud computing patents led in terms of growth.

It added that Indian startups filed over 280 technology patents during 2015-2019 with maximum patents being filed in the area of healthcare and medical devices.

Also, new age applications areas such as logistics, text/data mining, gaming, consumer electronics and vehicle technology led the technology patent growth story.