Top 10 countries filing patents in Europe

China has become one of the world's top 10 patent filers on the European Patent Office's 2017 patent-filing league table, according to results announced in Brussels.

The number of patents filed by Chinese companies in Europe witnessed a 16.6 percent year-on-year growth, compared to 3.9 percent growth in total number of patent filings by enterprises from all nations.

Although China grabbed the fifth spot on the list, following the United States, Germany, Japan and France, in the nation category, Chinese telecoms giant Huawei topped the list in the company category with 2,398 patents filings.

Let's take a look at top 10 countries filing the most patents with the EPO.

No 10 Italy
Number of patents filed in 2017: 4,352
Change: 4.3 percent