Poland’s patent gap: we file 12 times more trademarks than European patents (2025 data)

In brief: In 2025, Polish entities filed 7,829 EU trademarks with the EUIPO (5th in the EU-27) but only 621 patent applications with the European Patent Office (EPO) – 12th place and just 0.9% of EU filings. For every Polish patent application there are about 12 trademark applications – in technology-driven economies the proportion is reversed. If Poland’s share of European patents matched its share of trademarks, it would file about 4,800 inventions a year (the EU-27 average level) or about 10,400 (the G20 average level).

At the EUIPO, Poland plays in the top division. At the EPO, we’re down in the third.

Polish businesses have learned to protect their brands in Europe. Trademark filings from Poland to the EUIPO grow year after year and place us among the EU’s front-runners. Yet in European patents – where you protect technology, not a logo – Poland sits at the level of countries several times smaller. In my view, this asymmetry reflects not a lack of innovation in Polish companies, but a lack of habit.

Trademarks: Poland in the EU’s top five

In 2025, Polish entities filed 7,829 EU trademarks (EUTM) with the EUIPO – 11.6% more than a year earlier. That is the fifth-highest number in the entire EU-27, with Poland accounting for close to 7% of all filings from EU countries.

This is proof that Polish businesses know how to use Europe’s IP protection mechanisms effectively.

European patents: twelfth place and falling

In the same year, the European Patent Office (EPO) received 621 applications from Poland – 10.3% fewer than in 2024. That puts us twelfth in the EU-27, with just 0.9% of all filings from EU countries.

We trail not only the obvious powerhouses (Germany, France, the Netherlands) but also Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria and Ireland. Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, filed 3,457 inventions with the EPO in 2025 (up 44% y/y) – more than five times as many as Poland with its 38 million.

Worse still, our trademark filings keep growing (+11.6% y/y) while our patent filings keep shrinking (–10.3% y/y).

The patent-to-trademark ratio: Poland at 0.08 vs. the G20 average of 1.3

The most telling picture comes from combining the two figures into a single indicator: how many patent applications a country files with the EPO for every trademark application it files with the EUIPO.

The average for the EU-27 as a whole is about 0.6 – roughly three trademark applications for every two patent applications. Some countries file far more patents than trademarks: Finland has a ratio of 2.2, Sweden 1.4, France 1.2, and Germany and the Netherlands exactly 1.0. Outside Europe the asymmetry is even starker – Japan files 8.5 times more patents than trademarks in Europe, South Korea 6.5 times more, and US applicants almost three times more. The G20 average is 1.3 – G20 economies file about 30% more patents than trademarks in Europe.

Poland? Our ratio is 0.08 – below 0.1. We file 12 times more trademarks than patents. Technology-driven economies do exactly the opposite.

How many European patents should Poland be filing?

If we wanted the same share of European patents that we have in trademarks (6.9% of EU-27 filings), we would need to file:

• about 4,800 European patent applications a year – to match the EU-27 average,
• about 10,400 European patent applications a year – to match the G20 average.

In 2025, we filed 621.

We are using a tiny fraction of the potential we genuinely have – as our trademark activity at the EUIPO shows. We know how to use the European IP system; we just do it almost exclusively to protect brands, not technology.

Methodology and data sources

• Trademarks (EUTM): EUIPO, Statistics for European Union Trade Marks 1996-01 to 2026-03, sections 2.4 and 5.3. Country = residence of the first-named applicant. Registrations are counted by the year of entry in the register.
• European patents: EPO, Technology Dashboard 2025 – European patent applications 2016–2025 per country of residence of the first named applicant. Applications include direct EP filings and PCT applications entering the European phase.
• Patent-to-trademark ratio: the number of EPO applications in 2025 divided by the number of EUTM applications in 2025 from the same country of origin.
• The full dataset (EU-27 and G20, 2024–2025) is available for download below in CSV format.

dane-epo-euipo-2024-2025.csv
CSV · 2 KB

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

How many patent applications did Poland file with the EPO in 2025?

Polish entities filed 621 European patent applications in 2025. That is 12th place in the EU-27, 0.9% of all filings from EU countries and a drop of 10.3% from 2024 (692 applications).

How many EU trademarks did Poland file in 2025?

Polish entities filed 7,829 EU trademarks (EUTM) with the EUIPO – the 5th-highest number in the EU-27, close to 7% of all filings from EU countries and an increase of 11.6% y/y.

What is the patent-to-trademark ratio, and where does Poland stand?

The ratio shows how many patent applications a country files with the EPO for every trademark application it files with the EUIPO. For Poland in 2025 it is 0.08 – about 12 trademarks for every patent filed. The EU-27 average is 0.6, and the G20 average is 1.3.

Which countries file more patents than trademarks in Europe?

Japan (ratio of 8.5), South Korea (6.5), the US (2.7), Finland (2.2), Sweden (1.4) and France (1.2). Germany and the Netherlands file roughly as many patents as trademarks (ratio of 1.0).

How many European patents “should” Poland be filing?

If Poland’s share of European patents matched its share of trademarks (about 6.9% of the EU-27), it would file about 4,800 inventions a year at EU-27 average proportions, or about 10,400 at G20 average proportions. The actual figure for 2025 is 621 applications.

Where does the data in this article come from?

From official EUIPO statistics (Statistics for European Union Trade Marks, as of 03/2026) and the EPO (Technology Dashboard 2025). The full dataset can be downloaded in CSV format alongside the article.