In the first half of 2022, TIPO received a total of 34,753 patent applications for invention, utility model, and design patents, marking a 1% decrease from the same period last year, whereas trademark applications (46,578 cases) grew slightly by 0.4%. As for invention patents, applications from large domestic enterprises and domestic colleges & universities saw a growth of 3%, respectively, while applications from non-resident applicants increased by 6%. TSMC (1,163 cases) ranked first among resident applicants, and Applied Materials (438 cases) led all non-resident applicants. Most trademark applications were filed under the “Agriculture” industry. Uni-President (548 cases) and Guangdong Longshun International Logistics (85 cases) ranked at the top among resident and non-resident applicants, respectively.

Patent Applications

• The number of invention patent applications (24,316 cases), accounting for a majority of all patent applications received by TIPO, saw a growth of 2% compared to the same period last year (Table1). The increase is mainly due to the growth in non-resident applications. However, the number of utility model and design patent applications declined. 
• The number of invention patent applications filed by domestic enterprises (7,454 cases) fell by 3%, mainly because the applications in small and medium enterprises (1,332 cases) decreased. On the other hand, those from large enterprises (6,122 cases) grew by 3%, maintaining a robust R&D capability.
• In terms of resident applications, most of the top 10 invention patent applicants and top 5 design patent applicants were enterprises. TSMC (1,163 cases) outnumbered other applicants for the sixth consecutive year. Both Nanya (249 cases) and Innolux (179 cases) reached their respective all-time-high records and best rankings ever since TIPO first published the record in 2016. The latter, in addition, saw a staggering growth of 59 times compared to the same period last year (Figure 2). As for design patents, Acer (74 cases) filed the most applications among the top 5 applicants (Figure 3).
• The number of invention patent applications filed by domestic colleges & universities (840 cases) rose by 3%, whereas that of research institutions (131 cases) fell.
• In terms of non-resident applications, those for invention patents (14,960 cases) grew by 6%, accounting for the majority of all patent applications (Table 1). Of these, Japan took the lead with 6,193 invention patent applications among the top 5 filling countries (regions). The USA (3,759 cases) saw double-digit growth at 16%, and the others also registered positive growth except for mainland China (Figure 1). Moreover, the number of design patent applications filed reached 1,864 cases, and Japan came out on top with 519 applications (Table 1, Figure 1).
• As for top non-resident applicants, Applied Materials filed 438 invention patent applications and saw a growth of 44%, outnumbering all other applicants (Figure 2). Among design patent applicants, Ford Global occupied the leading place with 89 applications, and design patent applications of Cartier (43 cases) grew by 13 times, a significant surge compared to the same period last year (Figure 3).

Trademark Applications

• Compared to the same period (first half) last year, trademark applications (46,578 cases) received by TIPO showed a 0.4% increase; the number of classes covered (60,963 classes) also showed a 2% increase. The number of resident applications (36,449 cases) was up by 4%, while that of non-residents (10,129 cases) was down by 11% (Table 1). The share of resident applications was 78%, marking a 2% increase over the same period last year.
• In terms of application classes, resident applicants filed the most applications (7,378 cases) in Class 35 “Advertising, Business Management, Retail and Wholesale Services, etc.” and saw the highest growth rate with 67% in Class 30 “Coffee, tea, pastries, etc.” (Figure 4). All the trademark applications filed by the top 10 applicants saw positive growth. Of these, Uni-President filed 548 applications and saw a significant growth of 294%, ranking first among resident applicants (Table 3).
• On the other hand, non-resident applicants filed the most trademark applications (2,329 cases) in Class 9 “Computer and Technology Products, etc.” and saw the highest growth rate with 11% in Class 42 “Scientific and Technological Services and Research.” (Figure 5). 9 out of the top 10 applicants filed more applications even though the total number of trademark applications filed by all non-residents fell (Table 1 & 4). Of these, Guangdong Longshun International Logistics filed 85 applications, outnumbering all other non-resident applicants (Table 4).
• As for industry categories, most trademark applications received by TIPO were classified under “Agriculture” (15,092 cases), and resident applications (13,240 cases) represented the larger share. The agriculture industry also saw the largest difference (11,388 cases) in the number of applications between residents and non-residents. Among the top 3 industry categories, resident applications filed under “Agriculture” and “Business Services” and non-resident applications under “Research and technology” saw growth for two consecutive years.

• Publish Date : 2022-08-16
• Update : 2022-08-16
• Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
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