IPR Trends Q4 2015: Patent and Trademark Statistics

2016-03-15

A.Patent Applications
1.The number of new applications for all three types of patents came down by 2.25% to 20,171 cases.
2.Applications for invention (12,390) and utility model (5,682) patents decreased by 0.6% and 6.76%, respectively. Design (2,099) applications, conversely, grew by 1.11% (Table 1).
3.The number of invention applications (5,198) filed by residents dropped by 5.18%, whereas those filed by non-residents (7,192) went up by 2.99% (Table 1).
4.Breakdown by country, Japan (3,081) topped the list, followed by the US (2,046), South Korea (449), China (402), and Germany (342) (Fig.1).

Patent			Q4					Q1-Q4
			2015		2014		Growth Rate (%)	2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)
	Total	Total	20,171		20,635		-2.25	73,627	78,014	-5.62
		Resident	11,724		12,336		-4.96	41,869	45,868	-8.72
		Non-resident	8,447		8,299		+1.78	31,758	32,146	-1.21
	Invention	Total	12,390		12,465		-0.60	44,415	46,378	-4.23
		Resident	5,198		5,482		-5.18	17,282	19,054	-9.30
		Non-resident	7,192		6,983		+2.99	27,133	27,324	-0.70
	Utility Model	Total	5,682		6,094		-6.76	21,404	23,488	-8.87
		Resident	5,319		5,696		-6.62	20,138	22,135	-9.02
		Non-resident	363		398		-8.79	1,266	1,353	-6.43
	Design	Total	2,099		2,076		+1.11	7,808	8,148	-4.17
		Resident	1,207		1,158		+4.23	4,449	4,679	-4.92
		Non-resident	892		918		-2.83	3,359	3,469	-3.17
Trademark			Q4					Q1-Q4
			2015	2014		Growth Rate (%)		2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)
		Total	20,516	19,116		+7.32		78,523	75,933	+3.41
		Resident	15,034	14,130		+6.40		57,356	56,217	+2.03
		Non-resident	5,482	4,986		+9.95		21,167	19,716	+7.36

Table 1 Patent and Trademark Applications—Residents and Non-Residents

Fig.1 Top 5 Nations Filing Applications for Invention, Design Patents and Trademark Registration

5.The top five domestic corporations applying for invention patents were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (333), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) (291), Inventec (181), Metal Industries Research & Development Center (MIRDC) (118), Acer (89). Hon Hai (83) and AU Optronics (74), however, dropped a few notches to the 6th and 8th place, respectively (Fig.2).
6.As for foreign corporations, Intel (393) topped the list, followed by Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (104), Tokyo Electron (98), Nitto Denko (91), and Applied Materials (90) (Fig.2).
7.Invention applications filed by domestic corporations (3,373) and individual applicants (614) were down by 8.71% and 7.53%, respectively. Conversely, those filed by universities (591) were up by 4.60%, with Far East University (76) topping the list. Domestic research institutes (620) also saw growth by 11.11% and took up 3 seats in the top ten (Table 3, Fig. 2, Fig.3).

	Applications	Number ofrequests for substantive examination	Number of conclusions	Number pending	First Office Actions issued	Average pendency for first office action (months)	Average disposal pendency (months)
2013	49,218	43,395	67,346	128,902	64,958	28.46(Dec.)	38.12(Dec.)
2014	46,378	41,168	70,206	100,041	62,413	21.16(Dec.)	29.68(Dec.)
Q3 2014	12,465	11,477	18,252	100,041	15,390	21.16 (Dec.)	29.68 (Dec.)
Q1-Q4 2014	46,378	41,168	70,206	100,041	62,413	21.16(Dec.)	29.68(Dec.)
Q3 2015	12,390	11,295	18,040	72,510	14,827	14.99(Dec.)	22.88 (Dec.)
Q1-Q4 2015	44,415	40,489	68,369	72,510	59,366	14.99(Dec.)	22.88(Dec.)
Q1-Q4 2015 vs. Q1-Q4 2014 (%)	-4.23%	-1.65%	-2.62%	-27.5%	-4.88%	-6.17	-6.80

Table 2 Processing Status for Examination of Invention Patent Applications

	Q4			Q1-Q4
	2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)	2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)
Far East University	76	13	484.62	107	44	+143.18
National Tsing Hua University	30	49	-38.78	123	149	-17.45
Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology	26	26	0.00	95	94	+1.06
Nan Kai University of Technology	26	17	+52.94	45	30	+50.00
National Chiao Tung University	23	20	+15.00	105	96	+9.38
National Cheng Kung University	19	31	-38.71	101	87	+16.09
National Taiwan University	8	36	-77.78	38	137	-72.26

Table 3 Top Invention Patent Filing Domestic Universities

Fig.2 Top 10 Invention Patent Filing, Domestic and Foreign Applicants

Fig. 3 Invention Patent Applications Filed by Residents

B.Patent Grants

1.The number of patent grants for all three types of patents increased by 2.73% at 20,469 cases (Table 4).
2.Patent grants for invention (13,235) and design (2,032) increased by 6.57% and 10.43%, respectively. However, patent grants for utility model (5,202) decreased by 8.21% (Table 4).
3.The number of invention patents granted to residents (5,867) and non-residents (7,368) went up by 2.11% and 10.42%, respectively (Table 4).
4.Breakdown by country, Japan (3,259) came out on top, followed by the US (2,142), South Korea (489), China (355), and Germany (295) (Fig.4).
5.In the number of granted invention patents, the top five domestic corporations were Hon Hai (462), ITRI (189), Wistron (153), AU Optronics (128), and TSMC (125) (Fig.5). The top five foreign corporations were Intel (239), Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (174), Apple (123), Tokyo Electron (119), Toshiba (86), and Qualcomm (86) (Fig.5).

Patent			Q4			Q1-Q4
			2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)	2015	2014	Growth Rate (%)
	Total	Total	20,469	19,926	+2.73	78,090	76,255	+2.41
		Resident	11,873	11,995	-1.02	46,486	47,848	-2.85
		Non-resident	8,596	7,931	+8.38	31,604	28,407	+11.25
	Invention	Total	13,235	12,419	+6.57	48,318	45,603	+5.95
		Resident	5,867	5,746	+2.11	21,438	21,340	+0.46
		Non-resident	7,368	6,673	+10.42	26,880	24,263	+10.79
	Utility Model	Total	5,202	5,667	-8.21	22,106	23,713	-6.78
		Resident	4,886	5,290	-7.64	20,790	22,486	-7.54
		Non-resident	316	337	-16.18	1,316	1,227	+7.25
	Design	Total	2,032	1,840	+10.43	7,666	6,939	+10.48
		Resident	1,120	959	+16.79	4,258	4,022	+5.87
		Non-resident	912	881	+3.52	3,408	2,917	+16.83

Table 4 Patent Grants—Residents and Non-Residents

Fig.4 Top 5 Nations in the Number of Invention Patent Grants

Fig.5 Top 10 Invention Patent Grants Domestic and Foreign Applicants

The information session will be recorded and made available to the public at the TIPO website.

To continue reading, click here.

https://www.tipo.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=577916&ctNode=6687&mp=2

(These latest Intellectual Property (IP) news and events presented here, are prepared and compiled by us, the World Patent & Trademark Law Office (WPTO),for your reference and information)

Back to list