European Patent Office announced that American enterprises submitted 71,700 patent applications to them in 2014, Japan ranked second

According to the report, the office received a total of 274,000 patent applications last year, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.1%. Of which, Samsung submitted 2,541 patents, ranking first; while China's Huawei ranked fifth with 1,600 applications. Following Samsung, Philips submitted 1,040 applications; Siemens submitted 2, 133 applications; and LG submitted 1,638 applications. In addition, Qualcomm submitted 1,459 patent applications in Europe; Intel submitted 1,054 applications; Nokia submitted 1,040 applications; Microsoft submitted 734 applications; Google submitted 518 applications; and Apple submitted 294 applications.

By country:

• American enterprises submitted the most patent applications in Europe in 2014, reaching 71,700 and accounting for 26% of the total.
• Japan ranked second with 48,400 applications;
• Germany ranked third with 31,647 applications;
• and China ranked fourth with 26,500 applications.

Meanwhile, China saw the fastest increase in applications with a 18.2% growth rate year-over-year.