The Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Feb. 3 that it received a total of 82,988 patent applications in 2011, the second highest on record and up 3.1 percent from the previous year.
“Despite tightening conditions at home and abroad, firms and organizations in Taiwan maintained their innovation capability with an increasing number of patent applications in 2011,” said IPO Director-General Wang Mei-hua at a news conference in Taipei.
According to latest IPO statistics, Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co. Ltd. submitted 3,968 patent applications in 2011, making it the most prolific patent filer in Taiwan for the 10th year in a row. State-run Industrial Technology Research Institute and panel maker AUO Optronics Corp. came in second and third respectively.
Japan submitted 13,366 applications, up 16.64 percent year on year and accounting for 43.44 of all foreign cases. It is followed by the U.S. with 7,715 applications, 5.87 percent fewer than in 2010.
“This is further evidence of deepening economic ties between the two Asian nations,” Wang said. “The March 2011 earthquake has prompted businesses in Japan to pay more attention to Taiwan.”
Patent applications from mainland China jumped 76 percent last year to 1,329, Wang said, adding that the significant increase was the result of a growing interest in Taiwan among mainland Chinese companies.
In contrast, the number of applications filed last year by Taiwanese with Beijing is estimated at 21,600, roughly 3 percent fewer than in 2010. “This shows that local firms are becoming more conservative amid global uncertainties,” the official said.
Wang added that one of the agency’s priorities for 2012 is to tackle the huge backlog of 160,318 applications. “The IPO will add more staff and implement efficiency measures to speed up the approval process, which averaged 45 months as of year-end 2011. We expect to cut the time to 24 months by 2016.” (HZW)
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw