A total of 72,442 patent applications were filed with the Republic of China (Taiwan) Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) in 2016, down just 1.61 percent from the year before amid improving economic conditions at home and abroad, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Feb. 7.
Despite the fourth drop since 2012, when the number hit a record high at 85,074, the TIPO said the scale of the decrease shrank year on year, adding that changes in corporate patent portfolio strategies favoring quality over quantity are also playing a role in the trend.
The latest TIPO statistics show invention patents comprised 60.51 percent of the total applications, followed by utility model patents at 27.83 percent and design patents at 11.66 percent.
Of the filings, 40,443 were made by Taiwan nationals and companies, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. topping the list of local firms for the first time with 873 requests, up 74 percent year on year.
State-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute ranked second with 468 applications. After leading the pack for 14 years, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell to third place with 400.
The country’s universities were also major contributors to patent applications. The top three spots among tertiary institutions went to Far East University with 222 submissions, Taipei City University of Science and Technology with 172 and Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology with 137.
With regard to foreign applicants, Intel Corp. continued to take the lead with 905 cases. Qualcomm Inc. submitted 616 applications, up 160 percent from the previous year. Japan’s Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. came in third with 470 requests.
As for trademarks, submissions were up 1 percent year on year to 79,300, with 72.57 percent filed by Taiwan nationals and companies. Among the source countries and territories, mainland China remained the leader with 4,281 requests, followed by the U.S. at 3,735 and Japan at 3,669 filings. (SFC-E)
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