The UK is the top choice in Europe for foreign companies to file patent applications, a recent survey has revealed.

The report, published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, showed that the UK Patent Office received 7,754 foreign applications in 2004. The next most popular country for foreign filing was Germany, which received 7,644 applications, way ahead of France with 1,566, and Italy with 400.


The majority of applications for non-European companies seeking patent protection in Europe were submitted to the European Patent Office, which received 62,505 applications in 2004, but even via this route the UK remained the favourite country in which foreign applicants got their patents granted.


Matt Dixon, a spokesman for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, said the UK's popularity stemmed from its international reputation for quality of patent examination, the importance of the UK market, and the efficiency and value for money that applicants received from the UK Patent Office.


Morag Macdonald, joint head of Bird & Bird's London intellectual property group, said: 'This is not surprising as the UK and Germany, from a technological point of view, are most in need of protection and the places where companies are most likely to get it. Both jurisdictions have specialist courts and therefore have a greater ability to protect a patent where enforcement becomes necessary.'


But she warned that UK companies needed to brush up on their patent law. 'UK companies themselves are relatively low filers, due in part to the fact that a lot of people, even at board level, don't understand patent law,' she said.


'Copyright and trademark seem to have become sexy, but there is a lack of education when it comes to patents.'