According to the latest statistics, TIPO in Q1 2013 received a total of 20,097 patent applications, marking a growth of 3.61%. This is because of a tremendous jump of 35.94% in design patent applications; foreign applications for design (1,205 or a 61.53% increase) set a new high in a single quarter since 1999. Among foreign applicants, Apple Inc. led BMW with 126 to 51 cases in this category. Further analysis shows that the new Patent Act, which took effect on January 1, 2013, broadens the scope of design patent protection to partial designs, computer generated icons, graphic user interface (GUI), and sets of articles. In addition, during the transition period (January-March 2013), design patent applications filed prior to 2012 were allowed to be converted to partial designs and associated designs to derivative designs. Because of these measures, the number of design applications boomed in Q1 2013 (Table 1, Fig. 1).
The number of invention patent applications totaled 11,593. Of these, 4,832, and 6,761 applications were respectively filed by ROC nationals and foreigners; these numbers maintain steady compared to the same quarter the year before. In terms of applicant’s nationality, Japanese nationals took the lead with 3,470 applications, followed by the U.S. (1,679). This indicates that both countries are consolidating their ties with Taiwan in economic and trade cooperation. The third and fourth places were respectively taken by South Korea (334) and Germany (282). Mainland China, however, was down by 35.92%, totaling 182 applications (Fig. 2).
Among foreign industries filing invention patent applications, Japan and the U.S. continued to dominate the top 10 spots. Tokyo Electron Ltd. took the lead with 138 applications, followed by Apple Inc. (117) and Nitto Denko Corporation (116). Qualcomm Incorporated (81) leaped to the fifth place and South Korea-based Samsung Display Co. Ltd. squeezed into the sixth spot with 79 applications. There is a tiny margin between Samsung and Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp. (75), indicating intense competition in display technology. As for domestic industries, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (580) was a sure winner in this category, outstripping Wistron Corp. (100) and Acer Inc. (95) (Fig. 3).
In trademark, applications filed were 2.21% less than Q1 2012, totaling 16,962. This is because domestic applications (12,513) were down by 2.92%; the number of foreign applications (4,449) maintained steady compared to Q1 2012 (Table 1). In terms of applicant’s nationality, Japanese nationals (891) once again led the U.S. (873) by a small margin, with mainland China (658) being placed at third.
Invention patent applications filed by Chinese industries had shown an increase in the past two years. However, from Q3 2012 through Q1 2013, industries that entered the top 100 for patent filing are mostly Taiwanese, including Innocom Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Synergy Optoelectronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Sintai Optical (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. With an obvious decrease in patent filing in this quarter, only two Chinese industries, TPK Touch Solutions (Xiamen) Inc. (15) and Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. (14), entered the top 100 (Table 2). Other Chinese industries, however, managed to file a small number of invention patent applications with TIPO. These included BYD Company Ltd., China Petrochemical Technology Co., Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Legend (Beijing) Ltd., and Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Ltd. Since the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), mainland China has been actively promoting enterprise-based innovative technologies, development of key technologies and filing of patent applications through Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). In the future, mainland China will be placing even greater emphasis on global portfolio of invention patents, which merits subsequent observation.
The first quarter of 2013 has been very fruitful for TIPO in terms of patent backlog reduction. Due to an increase of 33.66% in the number of concluded cases (13,473) and a decrease of 3.05% in the number of requests for substantive examination (9,908), the number of pending cases dropped to 148,944 (below 150,000), with average pendency steadily being shortened to 43.63 from 46.14 months in 2012 (Table 3). In the same period, TIPO issued a total of 15,075 (a growth of 43.42%) first office actions and expected that the number of backlogs would be reduced to less than 140,000 by the end of this year.
Source : Intellectual Property Office
