Numbers of patent applications related to "blockchain" developments have increased more or less exponentially in the last couple of years. This is roughly illustrated by the charts on the right.
The upper chart is based on the Espacenet Worldwide collection of published applications in English, which covers many countries. The chart shows numbers of patent families with applications published in English which mention the term "blockchain"1 anywhere in the full text and the numbers of patent families with applications published in English which mention the term "blockchain" 1 in the claims. So far2, thousands of families of such "blockchain" applications have appeared in the Espacenet Worldwide collection. It seems reasonable to assume that there is a sizable reservoir of "blockchain" applications still to be published.
The lower chart is based on the EPO's full-text search database. The chart shows European patent applications published in English which mention the term "blockchain" 1 anywhere and the numbers of those applications which mention the term "blockchain" 1 in the claims.
The two charts show similar paths of increase in the numbers concerned, though the numbers for European patent applications are on a smaller scale. So far3 a total of just over 400 European patent applications which mention the term "blockchain" 1 anywhere have been published and just over 190 European patent applications which mention the term "blockchain" 1 in the claims have been published. It seems reasonable to expect that further European "blockchain" applications will feed continued growth in published European patent applications even beyond the estimate made for the full year of 2019.
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Footnote
1 Or related terms "distributed ledger", "shared ledger"
2 Based on the Espacenet Worldwide collection of published applications in English accessed on 14.08.2019
3 Based on the EPO's full-text search database accessed on 14.08.2019
* The numbers for "2019 so far" were taken from the Espacenet Worldwide collection of published applications in English on 14 and the EPO's full-text search database on 14.08.2019.
** The numbers for "2019 Full Year" are simple estimates based on "2019 so far".
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