Cloud Computing and Patent Filing Trends in India

December 27, 2019
patent Facilitation Center

By Renu Bala and Harshita Mall

Introduction

As more and more applications and services are becoming available on smartphones and other wireless devices, computing is no more limited to a single stand-alone desktop device. Applications are now being run and maintained remotely through cloud computing. In very near future cloud computing services would become a utility like internet services. Cloud computing not only includes provision of storage services but also dynamic allocation of processing capabilities depending demand of an application. Further, cloud technology serves majorly on three levels Software-as-a-service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) over the Internet. Considering the numerous benefits, the technology companies increasingly focuses on the development and advancement in the field of cloud computing.

In a complex and interconnected environment, cloud computing minimizes the complexity of huge data and ability to provide access to services like servers, storage, databases etc. on demand. Further, with the government’s initiative of Digital India, the emergence of innovation in business is driving the need for cloud based services in India. India is the second largest growing cloud services market, after China in Asia Pacific.

Cloud Computing Patent Trends

As the demand for cloud services increases, resulting in increased competition in the marketplace for better and technically advanced cloud based services. In such competitive environment companies may gain a competitive edge by proactively protecting its innovations. In our study we conducted a search for identifying the top applicants in the field of cloud computing in India[1].

Patent Applications

Over the years, around 643 patent applications based on cloud computing were filed in Indian Patent Office (IPO). The share of cloud computing patents has consistently increased from 10 percent before 2011 to 90 percent after 2011. The following chart gives a pictorial representation of the cloud computing based patent applications filed in India over the years.

In India, amongst all the companies, the top contributors that are involved in filing patent applications on cloud computing are Microsoft, VMWARE, INTUIT, Oracle, Alcatel Lucent, Accenture, Ericsson, Huawei, Infosys, Samsung Electronics, HCL Technologies, Amazon Technologies, Hewlett Packard Development, Philips, Qualcomm and Siemens. The abovementioned companies hold 50 percent of share in patent applications filing in IPO.

The following pie chart represents the individual share of these companies:

Patent Applications Filing

With increasing demand for cloud based services and Digital India initiative cloud based services would play a key role in functioning of various aspects of government and industry.

[1] Source – The chart is prepared on a keyword search conducted on Questel Orbit. Search term used “cloud computing India”

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