Huawei on European patent spree

Chinese giant claims local tech innovation proves its commitment to Europe

Chinese vendor Huawei has claimed that the swathe of tech patents it filed in Europe proves its commitment to doing business in the region.

According to the European Patent Office's (EPO) 2013 Annual Report, Huawei submitted 1,077 patents last year, ranking it among the top 15 global patent filers over the past 12 months.

The firm was ranked in 11th place, sandwiched between fellow tech giants Ericsson and Panasonic which came in 10th and 12th place respectively. Samsung topped the leader board after submitting a whopping 2,833 patents last year and tech vendors such as Qualcomm and Siemens also popped up in the top 10.

Overall, Huawei has had more than 7,000 patents granted in Europe, and the vendor – which has taken some stick from the West after claiming it was "not interested" in the US market anymore – said the figure speaks volumes about its local commitment.

"Huawei is one of the top patent owners in the world," said Cindy Bian, patent counsel for the Intellectual Property Rights Department at Huawei.

"We held over 36,500 granted patents [worldwide] by the end of 2013. Our role as a top applicant in Europe highlights our focus on innovation, as well as our commitment to the European business environment."

Earlier on this year, Huawei talked up its European commitment and claimed that last year it procured $3.4bn (£2.03bn) worth of components, engineering servers and logistical services from Europe. The firm has more than 7,700 staff in the region as well as two research and development hubs.

Today the firm added that it actively works with European firms to achieve what is described as "breakthrough innovations".