Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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367. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason for the significant decline of national full-term patent filings received, following the publication of its annual report for 2014 by the Irish Patents Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38151/15]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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In 2008 national patent filings reached a peak with 1007 applications but by 2014 this had declined to just 321. Inevitably the financial crisis and economic collapse experienced by Ireland after 2008 led many companies to adapt their innovation strategies with a consequent decline in patent filings. The revision of the patent royalty tax exemption in 2006 and its ultimate abolition in 2011 may also have impacted the level of patent applications.However, 2015 has seen a significant increase with 367 national applications received up to the end of September – an increase of almost 50% over the same period in 2014. Whilst this has to be seen in the context of a lower baseline figure in 2014, it appears to signal an upturn in activity by Irish-based applicants in particular, as they typically account for over 70% of national patent filings.

It is important however to note that the presence in Ireland of high-tech multinational companies availing of the supportive environment for innovation does not necessarily result in high levels of national patent filings. Irish-based foreign-owned companies who develop Intellectual Property (IP) in Ireland often have a policy of filing patent applications through their parent company headquartered abroad. In such cases, even though the R&D which has given rise to the IP may have been carried out in Ireland, any resulting applications might not necessarily be recorded as filings by Irish-resident firms. In this respect, over the same period from 2008 to 2014, the number of patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and which take effect in Ireland increased by 57% from 36,825 to 57,749. Patent filings at the EPO by Irish resident firms remained relatively stable during the same period with 712 in 2008 and 709 in 2014.

The measures announced by the Minister for Finance in Budget 2016 relating to the Knowledge Development Box for qualifying intellectual property assets should act as a further R&D stimulus for the Irish enterprise base potentially leading to an increase in the volume of patent applications filed in Ireland.