Volkswagen has a total of 103072 patents globally, out of which 33698 have been granted. Of these 103072 patents, more than 73% patents are active. Germany is where Volkswagen has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by China and Europe. Parallelly, Germany seems to be the main focused R&D center and also is the origin country of Volkswagen.
Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by German Labour Front. The company manufactures and sells vehicles. The Company offers economy and luxury automobiles, sports cars, trucks, and commercial vehicles.
Want to know which automotive companies are leading in innovation? Check out our list of the top automotive companies ranked by their patent count here
Read about some of the most popular patents of Volkswagen which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Volkswagen patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Volkswagen patent portfolio.
How many patents does the Founder and CEO of Volkswagen have?
The Founder German Labour Front has 0 patents and the CEO Herbert Diess have 4 patents.
How many patents does Volkswagen have?
Volkswagen has a total of 103072 patents globally. These patents belong to 51579 unique patent families. Out of 103072 patents, 75836 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Volkswagen File Every Year?
Are you wondering why there is a drop in patent filing for the last two years? It is because a patent application can take up to 18 months to get published. Certainly, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Volkswagen Applications Filed | Volkswagen Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 6315 | 2548 |
| 2012 | 7793 | 3310 |
| 2013 | 8326 | 3282 |
| 2014 | 7744 | 2731 |
| 2015 | 8840 | 2363 |
| 2016 | 11147 | 3738 |
| 2017 | 9567 | 4190 |
| 2018 | 9724 | 3008 |
| 2019 | 9640 | 2831 |
| 2020 | 7139 | 2459 |
| 2021 | 2128 | 2491 |
| 2022 | 123 | 747 |
How many Volkswagen patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
How Many Patents did Volkswagen File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Volkswagen Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| Germany | 37458 |
| China | 12988 |
| Europe | 10506 |
| United States Of America | 9261 |
| Sweden | 2640 |
| Korea (South) | 2551 |
| Japan | 2485 |
| Austria | 2360 |
| Brazil | 2089 |
| Russia | 1756 |
| United Kingdom | 1749 |
| India | 1360 |
| Spain | 791 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 763 |
| France | 527 |
| Taiwan | 496 |
| Czech Republic | 453 |
| Australia | 445 |
| United Arab Emirates | 366 |
| Canada | 337 |
| Indonesia | 334 |
| Mexico | 332 |
| Italy | 270 |
| Finland | 263 |
| Saudi Arabia | 219 |
| Turkey | 205 |
| Switzerland | 191 |
| New Zealand | 189 |
| Poland | 159 |
| Israel | 136 |
| Portugal | 123 |
| Malaysia | 121 |
| Denmark | 116 |
| Argentina | 114 |
| Norway | 107 |
| Slovakia | 102 |
| Montenegro | 98 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 88 |
| Hungary | 69 |
| Chile | 39 |
| Singapore | 37 |
| South Africa | 28 |
| Estonia | 20 |
| Philippines | 17 |
| Greece | 14 |
| Lithuania | 13 |
| Viet Nam | 8 |
| Iceland | 6 |
| Slovenia | 6 |
| Uruguay | 6 |
| Croatia | 4 |
| Bolivia | 4 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Eurasia | 3 |
| Tunisia | 3 |
| Cyprus | 3 |
| Romania | 3 |
| Ukraine | 3 |
| Dominican Republic | 3 |
| Kazakhstan | 2 |
| Ecuador | 2 |
| Nicaragua | 1 |
| Belarus | 1 |
| Gulf Cooperation Council | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Morocco | 1 |
| Peru | 1 |
| Mongolia | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of Volkswagen Patents Located?
10 Best Volkswagen Patents
DE102010013150A1 is the most popular patent in the Volkswagen portfolio. It has received 620 citations so far from companies like Ethicon Llc, Robert Bosch Gmbh and Cilag Gmbh International.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Volkswagen:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| DE102010013150A1 | 620 |
| US20110022393A1 | 420 |
| WO2014139821A1 | 251 |
| DE102010016037A1 | 192 |
| WO2014148976A1 | 184 |
| US20140052323A1 | 168 |
| US20140148988A1 | 166 |
| US20140277896A1 | 148 |
| US20110259657A1 | 127 |
| US9352709B2 | 126 |
Which Companies are using Volkswagen Patents to Advance their Research?
If patents or patents from a particular technology area of a company receive a lot of citations, it implies that the technology is being followed and incrementally innovated by the citing companies. It also indicates that citing companies are working on similar and closely related technologies.
The top citing companies in the Volkswagen patent portfolio are Ford Global Technologies Llc, Toyota and Gm Global Technology Operations Llc.
List of the top forward citing Companies –
| Company | Number of Patents |
| Ford Global Technologies Llc | 278 |
| Toyota | 162 |
| Gm Global Technology Operations Llc | 137 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 135 |
| Robert Bosch Gmbh | 92 |
| Honda Motor Company | 90 |
| Kia Motors | 73 |
| Bmw | 59 |
| Samsung Electronics | 43 |
| Denso | 38 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Volkswagen Patents
Top Volkswagen Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US20170219364A1 | 21 |
| US20110022393A1 | 20 |
| US20160200317A1 | 18 |
| US20160068156A1 | 16 |
| US20150094899A1 | 16 |
| US8694195B2 | 15 |
| US20140148988A1 | 15 |
| US8218007B2 | 14 |
| US8016025B2 | 14 |
| US20120150436A1 | 14 |
| US20110118946A1 | 14 |
| US8275348B2 | 13 |
| US20150123818A1 | 12 |
| US9262460B2 | 11 |
| US8300886B2 | 11 |
What Percentage of Volkswagen US Patent Applications were Granted?
Volkswagen (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 2496 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 1847 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 92.5%.
Below are the key stats of Volkswagen’s patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Volkswagen?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Barnes & Thornburg Llp | 766 | 95.14% |
| Muncy Geissler Olds & Lowe Pc | 241 | 96.24% |
| Hunton Andrews Kurth Llp | 232 | 87.83% |
| Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz Llp | 221 | 85.28% |
| Slayden Grubert Beard Pllc | 191 | 84.03% |
| Baker Botts Llp | 108 | 97.22% |
| Lerner Greenberg Stemer Llp | 105 | 92.13% |
| Manfred Beck | 79 | 97.47% |
| Seed Ip Law Group Llp | 67 | 95.00% |
| Loza & Loza Llp | 59 | 100.00% |
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
What are Volkswagen’s key innovation segments?
What Technologies are Covered by Volkswagen?
The chart below distributes patents filed by