Geography charts & datasets

Geography charts available and how to interpret them

Geographical Datasets

The geography section has 23 datasets allowing a wide set of analysis. Simply click the geography section of your report dashboard to view all of the geography charts available in your report.

Saved Chart Set

You can add any chart in Classification to a saved list of charts by selecting the tick in the bottom right of the chart icon wherever you see it. 

To access your selected charts, click the 'tick' icon in the top left of your report screen. To save your selected charts to a 'chart set', click the three dots in the top right of this view and select 'Save selection as chart set'. You can then give the 'chart set' a name. For more information on saved charts, click here.

We distinguish between patent families (a collection of individual patents covering one invention over many geographical territories) and individual patents (providing patent protection in one geographical area) across the Geography datasets.

We count patents in all applicable routes that a family has taken. Think of Classification's Geography charts and counts, like a trail of breadcrumbs taking into account the title/definition of the chart that you are reviewing.

It is important to mention that our Geography charts, in addition to data on applications and grants in geographical regions and countries, also take into account whether an application has been made via WIPO (PCT) or EPO.

EPO - European Patent Office

EPO stands for European Patent Office which is an administrative office providing a uniform application procedure to seek patent protection in up to 40 European countries. The EPO processes applications, and decides on grants (and handles renewal payments), therefore a patent may be counted in the EPO section of the Geography charts as an application OR a grant.

If you choose to file via the EPO, the application will be counted in Classification in 'EPO', and in each European country. If you file via the EPO, get a grant, and then keep your grant in Germany and France, this will be counted as a grant in EPO, Germany and France. For more information on EPO please click here.

WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization

WIPO stands for World Intellectual Property Organization which is also an administrative office. It is important to remember that WIPO does not actually grant patents per se, so in the context of the Geography charts here, WIPO counts relate to applications only.

If you file via WIPO, this will be counted as an application in WIPO in the Classification charts. Once you designate a country after WIPO in which you wish to grant, such as Germany or US, the grant will then be counted in the relevant country or region and no longer in the WIPO category as an application, in the relevant Classification chart.

Until you designate a country after WIPO in which you wish to grant, in theory you have an application 'everywhere' and in the Geography charts this is either listed as an application in 'WIPO' or counted under 'Other' depending on the chart you're reviewing. If you do not designate where you would like your WIPO application to be examined, it will lapse/be abandoned. For more information on WIPO please click here.

Further information on this can be found in the individual chart summaries below.

Classification’s geographical data is broken down into datasets providing analysis of:

Information on patent family and status definitions can be found here.

The analysis you want to undertake, will determine the Geography chart you select. Below is a description of each chart type to help to choose the relevant ones for your analysis:

Active patent families - by region

In this dataset, each active family with a status of pending or granted is counted. Regional analysis at family level allows for high level strategic analysis.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'Other'.

A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has an application in the UK, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'.

Group by 'Region' selection:

• In 'IP5 region' (as shown above), Other relates to WIPO and Rest of World is everywhere not covered by the IP5 regions such as Russia.
• In 'Continent', Other relates to WIPO.
• Key Semiconductor territories.

This chart tells you if filings are predominately in one region versus another, and provides a high level view across your report. As an example, If you attempt this type of high level analysis in a chart looking at individual patent count, you don't know if the count relates to the same '731' patent families or not.

This chart is particularly useful if you're trying to analyse all of the results of your report i.e. across all organisations and all technologies. Use the organisation or technology filters in the top right of your report to hone in on certain organisations of technologies to answer the question 'what does everyone else do?'.

Active patent families - by region and organisation

In this dataset, each active family with a status of pending or granted is taken into account. Regional analysis at family level allows for high level strategic analysis.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'Other'.

A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has an application in the UK, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'.

Group by 'Region' selection:

• In 'IP5 region' (as shown above), Other relates to WIPO and Rest of World is everywhere not covered by the IP5 regions such as Russia.
• In 'Continent', Other relates to WIPO.
• Key Semiconductor territories.

This chart tells you if an organisation files predominately in one region versus another. As an example, If you attempt this type of high level analysis in a chart looking at individual patent count, you don't know if the count relates to the same '731' patent families or not.

These charts are particularly useful if you're trying to benchmark against someone else, to answer the question 'what does everyone else do?'.

Active patent families - by region and technology

In this dataset, each active family with a status of pending or granted is taken into account. Regional analysis at family level allows for high level strategic analysis.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'Other'.

A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has an application in the UK, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'.

Group by 'Region' selection:

• In 'IP5 region' (as shown above), Other relates to WIPO and Rest of World is everywhere not covered by the IP5 regions such as Russia.
• In 'Continent', Other relates to WIPO.

This chart tells you if filings are predominately in one region versus another, in each technology area across all of your report. This is useful to review technology trends. As an example, If you attempt this type of high level analysis in a chart looking at individual patent count, you don't know if the count relates to the same '731' patent families or not.

This chart is particularly useful if you're trying to compare trends across multiple technologies, to answer the question 'what does everyone else do in these technology areas?'.

Granted Patent families - by territory and priority year

In this dataset, each family with a status of granted is taken into account. Of these families, each will be counted once in each territory where there is a grant, at corresponding priority year.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. (WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications and not grants.)

Granted Patent families - by territory and publication year

In this dataset, each family with a status of granted is taken into account. Of these families, each will be counted once in each territory where there is a grant, at corresponding publication year.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. (WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications and not grants.)

Patent families with grants - by territory

In the 'Patent families with grants - by territory' dataset, it shows the number of patent families that have at least one current live grant in the respective territory (irrespective of the status of the patent family itself). Each family will be counted once in each column where there is a grant in that region.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications and not grants.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation, numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy Hint: Use a combination of the organisation/technology/territory filters to focus on areas of interest for this chart output.

Patent families with grants - by territory and organisation

In the 'Patent families with grants - by territory and organisation' dataset, it shows the number of patent families that have at least one live current grant in the respective territory, split by organisation ((irrespective of the status of the patent family itself). Each family will be counted once in each column where there is a grant in that region.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications and not grants.

Handy hint: Use the technology filter in the top right of the report to focus on specific technologies across the organisations in this chart.

Patent families with grants - by territory and technology

In the 'Patent families with grants - by territory and technology' dataset, it shows the number of patent families that have at least one current live grant in the respective territory, split by technology (irrespective of the status of the patent family itself). Each family will be counted once in each column where there is a grant in that region.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications and not grants.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation (as the 'by territory and organisation' chart does), numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy hint: Use the organisation filter in the top right of the report to focus on specific organisations across the technologies in this chart.

Patent families with grants - by region

In the chart 'Patent families with grants - by region' dataset, it shows the number of patent families that have at least one live current grant in the respective region (irrespective of the status of the patent family itself). Each family will be counted once in each row where there is a grant in that region.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has a grant in EPO, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation, numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy Hint: Use a combination of the organisation/technology/territory filters to focus on areas of interest for this chart output.

Patent families with grants - by region and organisation

In the chart 'Patent families with grants - by region and organisation' dataset, it shows the number of patent families that have at least one live current grant in the respective region, broken down by organisation (irrespective of the status of the patent family itself). Each family will be counted once in each row where there is a grant in that region.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has a grant in EPO, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants.

Handy hint: Use the technology filter in the top right of the report, to focus on specific technologies when reviewing the numbers per organisation in this chart.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'Europe'. A family will only be counted once per region, so if a family has a grant in EPO, and 10 individual grants in Europe, this will still only be counted once in 'Europe'. If the same family has a grant in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'North America' also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation, numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy hint: Use the organisation filter in the top right of the report to focus on specific organisations, when reviewing the numbers per technology in this chart.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this application will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and also as 1 in every European 'country'. If the same family has an active application in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'WIPO'. If the application has been filed directly to Germany for instance (and not via EPO), this will be counted as 1 in 'Germany' only.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation (as the 'by territory and organisation' chart does), numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy Hint: Use a combination of the organisation/technology/territory filters to focus on areas of interest for this chart output.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this application will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and also as 1 in every European 'territory'. If the same family has an active application in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'WIPO'. If the application has been filed directly to Germany for instance (and not via EPO), this will be counted as 1 in 'Germany' only.

Handy hint: Use the technology filter in the top right of the report, to focus on specific technologies when reviewing the numbers per organisation in this chart.

Applications - by territory and technology

In the 'Applications - by territory and technology' dataset, the chart counts each individual current and active application, per territory for your report. Each application will be counted in each row where there is an application in that territory.

For example, if an EPO route has been taken, this application will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and also as 1 in every European 'territory'. If the same family has an active application in the US, this will be counted as 1 in 'United States' also. A family with a WIPO application, will be counted as 1 in 'WIPO'. If the application has been filed directly to Germany for instance (and not via EPO), this will be counted as 1 in 'Germany' only.

Handy hint: Use the organisation filter in the top right of the report to focus on specific organisations, when reviewing the numbers per technology in this chart.

Granted patents - by territory

In the 'Granted patents - by territory' dataset, the chart counts each individual granted patent, per territory for your report. Each patent will be counted in each row where there is grant in that territory. It is worth noting here that a patent family may have more than one granted patent for a given territory. Each of these grants are counted in this chart.

For example, if a family has two granted patents in the US this will count as 2 in 'United States'. Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken and granted, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants. This chart is useful for counting exact numbers of granted patents per territory.

As the aforementioned chart does not split results by organisation (as the 'by territory and organisation' chart does), numbers are aggregated if multiple organisations are selected.

Handy Hint: Use a combination of the organisation/technology/territory filters to focus on areas of interest for this chart output.

Granted patents - by territory and organisation

In the 'Granted patents - by territory and organisation' dataset, the chart counts each individual granted patent, per territory for each organisation in your report. Each patent will be counted in each row where there is grant in that territory. It is worth noting here that a patent family may have more than one granted patent for a given territory. Each of these grants are counted in this chart.

For example, if a family has two granted patents in the US this will count as 2 in 'United States'. Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken and granted, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants.

This chart is useful for counting exact numbers of granted patents per territory by organisation.

Handy hint: Use the technology filter in the top right of the report, to focus on specific technologies when reviewing the numbers per organisation in this chart.

Granted patents - by territory and technology

In the 'Granted patents - by territory and technology' dataset, the chart counts each individual granted patent, per territory for each technology in your report. Each patent will be counted in each row where there is grant in that territory. It is worth noting here that a patent family may have more than one granted patent for a given territory. Each of these grants are counted in this chart.

For example, if a family has two granted patents in the US this will count as 2 in 'United States'. Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken and granted, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO'. If that EPO grant has then been kept in Germany and France then this will also be counted as 1 in Germany and 1 in France also.

WIPO will not show in this chart at all, as WIPO relates only to applications, and not grants.

This chart is useful for counting exact numbers of granted patents per territory by technology.

Handy hint: Use the organisation filter in the top right of the report to focus on specific organisations, when reviewing the numbers per technology in this chart.

Applications and granted patents - by territory and organisation

In the 'Applications and granted patents - by territory and organisation' chart, each live application and granted patent is counted, taking into account all applicable routes.

If an application is made direct to a territory, for example a US application, this would be counted as 1 in 'United States'.

Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and 1 in every European territory too if at application stage. If that EPO then grants and has been kept in Germany and France, then this will then be counted as 1 in Germany, 1 in France, and 1 in EPO.

Classification will count every WIPO application as 1 in 'WIPO'. Once you designate where you would like your WIPO application to be examined, then it will be counted as an application or subsequent grant in that territory/region of your Geography chart.

Applications and granted patents - by territory and technology

In the 'Applications and granted patents - by territory and technology' chart, each live application and granted patent is counted, taking into account all applicable routes.

If an application is made direct to a territory, for example a US application, this would be counted as 1 in 'United States'.

Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and 1 in every European territory too if at application stage. If that EPO then grants and has been kept in Germany and France, then this will then be counted as 1 in Germany, 1 in France, and 1 in EPO.

Classification will count every WIPO application as 1 in 'WIPO'. Once you designate where you would like your WIPO application to be examined, then it will be counted as an application or subsequent grant in that territory/region of your Geography chart.

Applications versus granted patents - by territory

In the 'Applications versus granted patents - by territory' chart, each live application and granted patent is counted, taking into account all applicable routes.

If an application is made direct to a territory, for example a US application, this would be counted as 1 in 'United States'.

Similar to the other Geography charts, if an EPO route has been taken, this will be counted as 1 in 'EPO' and 1 in every European territory too if at application stage. If that EPO then grants and has been kept in Germany and France, then this will then be counted as 1 in Germany, 1 in France, and 1 in EPO.

Classification will count every WIPO application as 1 in 'WIPO'. Once you designate where you would like your WIPO application to be examined, then it will be counted as an application or subsequent grant in that territory/region of your Geography chart.

Handy Hint: Use the organisation or technology filter in the top right of your report to focus on specific organisations or technologies of interest when reviewing the data of this chart.

Families by first filing territory and priority year

The above dataset shows a breakdown of the families in your report by which territory was the first filing by priority year. This is further split year on year along the x axis with the volume of filings shown by the y axis. This data combines all of the organisations & technologies in your report and shows families of all statuses.

Families by first filing territory - by technology

The above dataset shows a breakdown of the families in your report by which territory was the first filing, split by the technologies in your report. Which technologies are present will depend on the type of classification you used for your report, but could be either your custom classifiers, the UTT or clustering. Each technology has a set colour in the key. You can then see the countries themselves along the x axis, with volume of families along the y.