According to the Endress+Hauser Group, it has been paying special attention to the protection of intellectual property for two decades. The most recent figures confirm 318 initial applications in 2019 and a portfolio of more than 8,000 patents and patent applications worldwide mark new highs.
For 20 years now, a separate department at Endress+Hauser has been dealing exclusively with the protection of intellectual property. In 1999, the company merged and realigned all activities in this field. Today, 30 employees – 26 in Weil am Rhein, Germany, four in Greenwood, Indiana, USA – take care of patent issues, trademark protection and related contracts. The Patent Rights Incentive Program was launched at the same time. It encourages employees to submit invention disclosures.
“If we want to protect ourselves from unauthorized imitators, we need to be aware of all relevant developments,” said physicist and patent attorney Angelika Andres, who has headed the group’s IPR department since 1999. Her team determines whether the submitted inventions are worthy and eligible for protection. This applies in four out of five cases. The specialists then draft a patent application that grants comprehensive protection for the invention.
In 1999, Endress+Hauser submitted 55 initial patent applications – in 2019 there were 318. “We took a leap forward in the first year after the introduction of the Patent Rights Incentive Program and registered almost twice as many patents,” said COO Andreas Mayr. The share of patents related to digitalization is increasing, and the field of analytical technology is as well.
Endress+Hauser was granted 677 patents worldwide last year, protecting the company’s products in all major European markets as well as in China and the U.S. Today, the group’s entire IPR portfolio comprises more than 8,000 patents and applications. This is mainly due to the work of the more than 1,100 employees in research and development.
