According to the latest statistics, TIPO received 20,268 patent applications in Q2 2013, down by 3.36% from the previous year due to a dip in domestic invention and utility model patent applications.

The number of design patent applications, however, rose by 2.31% to 2,218, wherein applications for partial design, graphic design and set of articles totaled 416 (18.76% of design applications), 60 and 25, respectively.  Since the new Patent Act took effect on January 1, 2013, partial design, graphic design and set of articles have been incorporated into the scope of design patent protection.

In terms of design filing applicant’s nationality, ROC nationals (1,388) increased by 8.95%, whereas foreigners (830) decreased by 7.16% (Table 1, Fig. 1).  In the first half of 2013, Apple Inc. took the lead with 132 design applications, mainly partial designs (65), followed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. with 85 design applications, mostly graphic designs (39).  These figures surpass their own average (40) from last year, indicating the eagerness of both in developing design portfolios in Taiwan.

Of the 11,730 invention patent applications, those filed by foreigners totaled 6,423, remaining steady compared to Q2 2012 (Table 1).  Among these, Japanese took the lead with 2,758 applications, followed by the U.S. (1,763) and South Korea (475) (Fig. 2).

Among the top 10 invention patent filing foreign industries, Japan and the U.S. continued to dominate, while South Korea expanded their domain. Apple Inc. topped the list with 142 applications. Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (97) leaped to the 3rd place, nearing those of Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp. (109), thus indicating fierce competition in the display technology (Fig. 3). And, for the first time, LG Chem, Ltd. (70) entered the top 10 list.

Chinese industries, on the contrary, only managed to file a small number of invention patent applications with TIPO in Q2 2013.  As a result, the number (223) showed a 19.20% decrease.  Those that entered the top 100 include Shanghai Hehui Optoelectronics, Ltd. (16), Sintai Optical (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (16) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation (12) (Table 2).

As for domestic industries, invention applications filed in Q2 2013 totaled 5,307, or a 6.27% decrease (Table 1).  Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (849) again took the lead.  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (133) ranked 2nd with a surge of 79.73%, which indicates a strong growth in the domestic semiconductor industry (Fig. 3).

In trademark, due to a higher base in 2012, applications in Q2 2013 fell by 8.10% to 18,140.  Compared to Q2 2012, domestic (13,781) and foreign (4,359) applications decreased by 7.40% and 10.25%, respectively (Table 1).  Regarding nationality, the U.S. (894) led Japan (846) by a small margin, with mainland China (634) placed at third.

In sum, TIPO is pleased to report that its continued dedication has led to improved invention patent examination efficiency.  Thanks to a 40.87% increase in the number of decisions, backlogs were lowered to 143,735 in Q2 2013.  The average pendency for invention patent applications was reduced to 43.28 months from 46.14 months in 2012.  In addition, in the first half of 2013, 32,282 first office actions were issued, up by 45.85% from the previous year (Table 3, Fig 4).  We expect to cut down on the number of backlogs to less than 140,000 by Q3 2013.

The Patent and Trademark Statistics Q2 2013 is now available at: http://www.tipo.gov.tw/en/AllInOne_Show.aspx?path=2564&guid=d4dcadbb-55e0-4a3c-973f-112d9ca758c1&lang=en-us.