PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, February 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Report Examines Recent Developments at Major Patenting Authorities
Worldwide

The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters today released its
2009 Patent Focus Report. Authored by Joff Wild, editor of Intellectual Asset
Management magazine, and published in the Thomson Reuters KnowledgeLink(SM)
eNewsletter, this report explores recent activities at each of the world's
major patenting authorities (USA, Europe, Japan, China and India). The report
is available free at http://go.thomsonreuters.com/pfr2009.

"The 2009 Patent Focus Report combines expert insight with the stories
behind the statistics," said Tim Hamer, SVP Global Marketing Services at
Thomson Reuters. "This highly anticipated report discusses the issues facing
the world's major issuing authorities and dissects significant patent
disputes and their outcomes."

Key findings from the 2009 Patent Focus Report include:
    - For the first time a Chinese company, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd,
      topped the list of Patent Co-operation Treaty applications.
    - The European Patent Office received 140,700 applications in 2007, up
      over 3% from the year before. In contrast, the number of patents
      granted fell from 62,800 in 2006 to 54,700 in 2008.
    - The number of patent examiners in India has remained relatively static
      - raising questions about the quality of patents coming out of the
      Indian IP Office. In response, at the end of 2008 India announced 414
      new examiner posts to be created by 2012.
    - For the second year in a row, the Japan Patent Office reported the
      lowest level of approved patent applications since the mid-1990s.
    - Patent approval rates at the US Patent and Trademark Office continue to
      fall to below 50% of applications examined.

Published as part of the customizable KnowledgeLink eNewsletter, the 2009
Patent Focus Report draws on the expertise of Thomson Reuters specialists and
guest authors, and delivers unique insight into trends in information
management and cutting-edge research for information professionals, research
scientists and intellectual property specialists. KnowledgeLink is
distributed every two months to subscribers who can register for free and
select their customized content at scientific.thomsonreuters.com/news.

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