BY CHIA-HSIUNG LIU

During the first six months of 2021, the TIPO received a total of 35,264 applications for invention patents, utility model patents, and design patents, which constitutes an increase of 4% compared to the same period of 2020. The number of applications submitted by domestic applicants increased notably due to a 21 % increase of applications filed by large enterprises. TSMC (TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.) and QUALCOMM (QUALCOMM INCORPORATED, US) submitted 1,263 and 454 invention applications, respectively. Basically, the trends of the first half of 2021 show a stable increase in the number of filings.

The main observations are summarized below:

1. The number of invention applications submitted by domestic applicants increased by more than 10%

The TIPO received 23,876 invention patent applications. Compared with the same period of 2020, both domestic and foreign applicants submitted more invention applications, while the number of applications filed by domestic applicants increased by 13%, which constitutes a larger increase compared to filings by foreign applicants. For utility model and design patents, the numbers of applications filed by foreign applicants respectively increased by 22% and 5%.

2. The number of invention patent applications submitted by TSMC reached a new high

Domestic enterprises submitted 7,650 invention applications, meaning that they submitted 79% of invention applications filed in Taiwan. When comparing the amounts in first half year of the last five years, the number of invention applications submitted by enterprises has been steadily increasing for five years, with this first half year marking the largest increase during the last five years, i.e., the number of applications submitted by large enterprises increased by 21 %. TSMC submitted 1,263 invention applications, and this is the first time this applicant submitted more than 1,000 applications in a half-year period. This constitutes an increase of 237%, notably setting this company apart from other domestic applicants. COPLUS (COPLUS INC.) is the biggest applicant of design applications and filed 59 applications.

3. NYCU (NATIONAL YANG MING CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY) submitted the most invention applications among universities

Compared with the same period of 2020, the number of invention applications submitted by domestic universities slightly decreased in the first half of 2021. Among all universities, NYCU filed 59 invention applications and thus is the biggest applicant, while the biggest applicant among private universities is KSU (KUN SHAN UNIVERSITY) with 26 applications. Besides, in the first half of 2021, the number of invention applications submitted by public universities increased by 4% compared to the same period of 2020. Public universities contributed 64% of invention applications submitted by universities.

4. The number of invention applications submitted from research institutions increased slightly

Compared with the same period of 2020, the number of invention applications submitted by research institutions increased by 4%. ITRI (INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE) is the biggest applicant in this field and filed 101 applications.

5.     CTBC (CTBC BANK CO., LTD.) submitted the most invention applications among finance related industries

Applicants from industries associated with the financial sector submitted 72 invention applications and 267 utility model applications, most of which were submitted by banks. Here CTBC is the biggest applicant with 19 invention applications and 66 utility model applications.

6. QUALCOMM and HARRY WINSTON (HARRY WINSTON S.A., CH) submitted the most of invention and design applications, respectively

When analyzed according to different nations, applicants from Japan filed the most invention and design applications, amounting to 6,044 and 512 applications, respectively. Applicants from China filed the most utility model applications, namely 358 applications.

When analyzed based on individual applicants, QUALCOMM submitted 454 invention applications. COUPANG (COUPANG CORP., KR) witnessed the highest increase of 442%. HARRY WINSTON submitted 97 design applications, which marks the largest number of design applications filed by a single applicant.


Fig. 1 Top 10 applicants of invention applications


Fig. 2 Top 5 applicants of design applications

(Summarized and translated from the News published on the TIPO’s website) 
*International Patent Division of Tai E International Patent & Law Office