Global: number of Unilever patent filings by legal status 1999-2019

In 2018, Unilever filed in total 271 patent families. In 2017, the company filed 303 patent families of which 116 were still waiting for full protection as of October 1, 2020. The timeline is based on data provided by PatentSight.
Founded on January 1, 1930 by the merger of the British soap maker Lever Brothers and the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multi-national consumer goods company that produces food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.

Number of Unilever patent families* worldwide by filing year from 1999 to 2019, by legal status

Filing Year	In force**	Pending	Inactive
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

In cooperation with

Release date

October 2020

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

October 1, 2020

Supplementary notes

* A patent family is defined as a group of patent documents all of which have the same set of priorities. I.e., it is a group of patent documents that protect the same invention across authorities.

** The 'In force' category covers patent families that have been granted and are active.

*** As it usually takes 18 months after first filing for a patent to get published, the data for the year 2019 is subject to change.

The owner of a patent includes all patents owned by a company and its subsidiaries (by at least 50%) based on comprehensive research on corporate structures, M&A, Spin-offs, company names changes, patent transactions. PatentSight also tracks former names of companies and subsidiaries, ongoing mergers and acquisitions, acquisitions of the past, reassignments, companies that have the same applicant, and transliterations by patent offices.

Citation formats