TIPO Statistics Report: Patent and Trademark Applications in 2015
In 2015, overall applications dropped 5.6% from the previous year to 73,627 cases. Invention patent applications (44,415 cases) saw decline for the third year in a row. In trademark, applications (78,523 cases) reached a peak in ten years. Thanks to TIPO’s active management of examination efficiency, the average pendency for disposal of invention patents in December 2015 was shortened to 22.9 months, and pending applications were lowered to 72,510 cases.
Overall applications for invention (44,415 cases), utility model (21,404 cases), and design (7,808 cases) were all down from the previous year with inventions dropping by 1,963 cases (-4.2%)(Fig. 1). In all, inventions showed a smaller decline than the previous year whereas the drop in utility models (-2,084 cases or -8.9%) became greater over the past three years.
Breakdown by nationality, overall applications (41,869 cases) by residents in 2015 saw a yearly decrease of 8.7%. Of these, invention and utility model applications totaled at 17,282 and 20,138 cases, respectively. The number of inventions, however, dropped by 9.3%. This decline may be due to residents becoming more selective over the past few quarters when applying for patents, as well as changes in their portfolio strategies. As for non-residents, overall applications (31,758 cases) were slightly down with invention applications concluded at 27,133 cases (Fig. 2). In terms of percentage of invention applications, foreign applications saw yearly increase from 55.8% in 2013 to 61.1% in 2015; however, domestic applications fell from 44.2% to 38.9% during the same period (Fig. 3).
In the number of patent applications filed with TIPO by non-residents, Japanese applicants managed a slight growth over the preceding year and continued to stay on top with 13,495 overall applications. Applications filed by applicants from China (2,019 cases) were the third largest in number (Fig. 4), and once again outnumbered those filed by Korean applicants (1,792 cases) since 2012. In the number of invention (12,284 cases) and design (1,090 cases) applications, Japan also claimed the top spot among the five largest patent-filing countries (Fig. 5, 6).
The results shown below are TIPO’s implementation of its patent backlog reduction project. From 2010 to 2015, concluded patent applications totaled at 323,498 cases, far exceeding the goal (304,690 cases) by 18,808 cases. Pending invention patent applications were down from the peak of 160,727 cases in May 2012 to 72,510 cases in December 2015 (Fig. 7). Average monthly disposal pendency was shortened from the peak of 47 months in July 2012 to 22.9 months in December 2015 (Fig. 8). This is faster than in the EU, the US, China (Fig. 9), and is instrumental in the expansion of corporate portfolios.
In trademark, the number of applications (78,523 cases) hit a record high with a yearly increase of 3.4% (Fig. 10). Despite this yearly growth, TIPO was able to dedicate its efforts to lowering average disposal pendency to 7.5 months, the lowest in five years (Fig. 11). In terms of nationality, applications filed by residents (57,356 cases) and non-residents (21,167 cases) both grew from the preceding year (Fig. 12). Yearly increase in the number of applications by non-residents (+1,451 cases, or 7.4%) was greater than that of residents. Among top five foreign applicants, China (3,919 cases) came out on top for the first time, outnumbering the US and Japan. Except for the US, countries that are active in expanding patent portfolios in Taiwan are mostly Asian countries (regions)(Fig. 13).
SOURCE: TIPO, Link
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