Chinese groups file record number of patents in Europe

Chinese companies are filing a record number of patents in Europe, in preparation for their international expansion, according to the European Patent Office.

The office said Chinese companies filed 7,150 patents with it in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 24.8 percent. It was the fastest growth rate among the top 10 countries on the office's patent-filing league table.

Huawei Technologies Co filed a notable 2,390 patents, which was the second-biggest filing by a company globally, after Philips NV with 2,568 patents, according to figures released by the office on Tuesday.