In the fourth quarter of 2023, the TIPO received a total of 19,686 patent applications for invention, utility model, and design, marking an increase of 3% compared with the same period of the previous year. The number of invention patent applications was 13,928, marking an increase of 4% compared with the same period of the previous year. The number of design patent applications was 1,921, marking an increase of 3% compared with the same period of the previous year. The number of utility model patent applications was 3,837, marking a decrease of 2% compared with the same period of the previous year. The resident applicant with the most invention patent applications was Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) with 342 applications, and the most prolific non-resident applicant was Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea) with 262 applications.
The top five resident applicants for invention patents were TSMC (342 applications), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) (210 applications), AUO Corporation (128 applications), Acer Incorporated (110 applications) and Nanya Technology Corporation (88 applications).
In addition, the top three resident applicants for design patents were Acer Incorporated (22 applications), Chang Gung University of Science and Technology (16 applications), Shu-Te University (13 applications) and Coplus Inc. (13 applications).
The number of invention patent applications filed by non-resident applicants was 8,519, marking an increase of 5% compared with the same period of the previous year. The country or region of non-resident applicants with the most invention patent applications was Japan (3,188 applications).
The top ten non-resident applicants for invention patent applications were Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea) (262 applications), Applied Materials, Inc. (U.S.A.) (199 applications), Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) (Japan) (138 applications), Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) (U.S.A.) (130 applications), Coupang Corp. (South Korea) (127 applications), ASML Netherlands B.V. (Netherlands) (117 applications), Nitto Denko Corporation (Japan) (107 applications), Screen Holdings Co., Ltd. (Japan) (89 applications), LG Display Co., Ltd. (South Korea) (86 applications) and Resonac Corporation (Japan) (84 applications).
In addition, the top five non-resident applicants for design patent applications were Apple Inc. (U.S.A.) (122 applications), Ford Global Technologies, Inc. (U.S.A.) (56 applications), Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW) (Germany) (42 applications), PSA Automobiles SA (France) (25 applications) and Sony Interactive Entertainment, LLC (SIE) (Japan) (19 applications).
(Summarized and translated from the News published on the TIPO’s website)

*Section Chief of International Patent Division at Tai E International Patent & Law Office