In Q4 2021, TIPO received a total of 19,210 patent applications (including invention, utility model, and design patents), marking a less than 1% decrease from the same period last year, whereas trademark applications (24,839 cases) grew by 1%. As for invention patent applications, ITRI (252 cases) came out on top among resident applicants for the first time, and Applied Materials (234 cases) led non-resident applicants. Most trademark applications were filed under the agriculture industry. Uni-President (178 cases) and Cognosphere (56 cases) ranked at the top among resident and non-resident applicants, respectively.

Patent Applications

• Among the three types of patent applications, there were 12,992 invention patent applications filed this year, a growth of 2% compared to the same period last year. This was mainly due to an increase in non-resident applications. On the other hand, the number of utility model and design patent applications dropped. All three types of patent applications filed by non-resident applicants saw growth anywhere from 6% to 20% (Table 1).

• The number of applications from domestic enterprises (3,528 cases) fell mainly because those from large enterprises (2,631 cases) decreased. On the other hand, the number of applications filed by small and medium enterprises (897 cases) rose by 1%.
• As for resident applications, ITRI topped with 252 invention patent applications while Acer with 23 design patent applications. Most of the top 10 enterprises of invention patent applications saw growth even though the total number of invention patent applications filed by all enterprises fell. Of these, Realtek (137 cases), Nanya (83 cases) and Nuvoton (56 cases) reached a new high in ten years (Figure 2). Invention patent applications filed by research institutes (454 cases) saw an increase of 17%, with ITRI (252 cases) outnumbering the others.
• The number of non-resident applications (9,466 cases) grew by 10%, mainly due to a 10% increase in invention patents (Table 1). Among non-resident applicants, Japan took the lead with 3,117 invention patent applications. The number of invention patent applications of the top 5 filing countries (regions) saw an increase anywhere from 6% to 23% (Figure 1).
• The number of design patent applications filed by non-resident applications (1,094 cases) were up by 6% (Table 1). Of these, the US came on top with 272 applications, outnumbering Japan in Q4 2021 (Figure 1).

• As for the top 10 non-resident applicants, Applied Materials topped the list of invention patent by filing 234 applications; Harry Winston occupied the leading place in design patents with 53 applications. Both the two applicants saw significant growth - the former at 64% and the latter, 382% (Figure 2, Figure 3).

Trademark Applications

• Compared to the same period (Q4) last year, trademark applications (24,839 cases) received by TIPO showed a 1% increase; the number of classes covered (31,809 classes) also showed a 1% increase. The number of resident applications were up by 2%, while that of non-residents down by 3% (Table 1).
• In terms of application classes, resident applicants filed the most applications (3,937 cases) in Class 35 (advertising, business management, retail, wholesale services, etc.), marking a 12% increase (Figure 4). Uni-President filed 178 applications, ranking first among the top 10 resident applicants (Table 2).
• As to non-resident applicants, mainland China filed the most applications (1,230 cases) compared to other countries (regions) (Figure 1). In terms of application classes, non-resident applicants filed the most applications (1,163 cases) in Class 9 (computer and technology products, etc.)(Figure 5). Cognosphere, which was not an applicant in Q4 2020, filed 56 applications, outnumbering all other non-resident applicants (Table 3).
• As for industry categories, most trademark applications received by TIPO were classified under “Agriculture” (6,947 cases), and resident applications (5,877) represented a larger share. Non-resident applications were mostly filed under “research and technology” (2,039 cases) (Figure 6). “Business and financial services” stood at the second spot for resident applications, marking growth for two consecutive years.

• Publish Date : 2022-02-18
• Update : 2022-02-22
• Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
• Visitors : 618