According to TIPO’s Q1 2014 statistics, overall patenting activities fell by 2.76% due to decreased filings in utility model and design. Inventions filed by ROC nationals dropped 6.46% while foreign nationals jumped 10.74%. This owes much to increased inventions filed by US, South Korea and Chinese nationals. Among domestic corporations filing invention patents, Hon Hai Precision Industry continued to stay on top. In foreign companies, Applied Materials topped invention filings. In trademark, applications saw a steady increase of 3.20%.

Of the overall patent applications (19,543, -2.76%) filed in Q1 2014, utility model applications (5,569) decreased by 6.72%, and design applications (1,967) plunged 22.38%. This marked decrease in design application is the result of a surge in application conversion during the transition period (Q1 2013) for the implementation of the new Patent Act. The new Act adds protection to partial design, icon design and design for a set of articles, which in turn encourages domestic and foreign applicants to convert their applications (filed prior to 2012).

Invention applications (12,007) increased by 3.57% from Q1 2013. Foreign nationals contributed to this growth with 7,487 applications (+10.74%) whereas domestic filings (4,520) dropped 6.46%. Domestic filings dropped because of decreased number of inventions filed by corporations (3,216, -7.45%), colleges/universities (486, -10.17%) and research institutes/organizations (132, -15.38%). In contrast, Japan (3,243) once again remained on top, leading the US (2,336), South Korea (428), Germany (278) and mainland China (230). Inventions filed by the US, South Korea and mainland China respectively jumped 39.13%, 28.14%, and 26.37%, resulting in the overall increase. 

Among domestic corporations filing invention applications, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (391) again took the lead, though its filing number slumped 32.59% from Q1 2013. This may have to do with the company’s recent shift in patent portfolio strategies. Acer (119) came second with continued growth for the past three quarters. The fifth-placed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (83) was able to sustain growth for five consecutive quarters; its invention applications in Q1 2014 were 150% more than Q1 2013. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (67), however, fell to the sixth place with filings in continuous decline since Q2 2013.

As for foreign corporations, Applied Materials, Inc. (171) landed on top, leading Nitto Denko Corporation (159) and Qualcomm Incorporated (81). These top three companies are among the most proactive in building patent portfolios in Taiwan, with 37.07%~128.00% growth over Q1 2013.

Invention patenting in the display industry saw competition between Taiwan’s AU Optronics (105) and the South Korea-based Samsung Display (99) in Q1 2014. In portable devices industry, corporations with varying emphases in the technology have different patenting trends. Apple (ranked 11th among foreign nationals) took the lead with 75 invention applications highlighting apps and iOS development. Samsung Electronics (ranked 12th among foreign nationals) came second with 73 inventions relating to touch technology and video codecs. HTC concluded with 47 inventions concerning image and audio processing.

Design patent applications also experienced a decrease, with ROC nationals falling 11.29% (1,179) and foreign nationals falling 34.61% (788). The top five nations filing design applications in Q1 2014 are Japan (294), the US (167), Germany (73), South Korea (46), and Switzerland (37). Of these, only South Korea reported a 31.43% growth, whose Samsung Electronics was able to yield a 100% growth from Q1 2013 with 22 applications, mostly partial designs. Apple took an 89.7% plunge with 13 applications due to a sharp decrease in its partial design applications. HTC also saw a 16.7% decrease with 15 applications.

Thanks to the addition of examination manpower and measures to fast-track examination, TIPO was able to report a 21.85% growth from Q1 2013 in the number of concluded invention applications (16,417). The number of pending applications was down to 122,192. By Q2 2014, the pending applications will have been reduced to less than 120,000. The average time for disposal (35.75 months) in March 2014 was 8.01 months shorter than in March 2013; pendency for first office action averaged 26.87 months, 9 months shorter than in March 2013.

In trademark, applications grew by 3.20% to 17,505 cases. Of these, domestic applications (13,051) saw a 4.30% increase from Q1 2013. Foreign applications (4,454) remained roughly the same, with Japan (755) and mainland China (562) decreasing their applications, whereas the US (833), Hong Kong (291) and South Korea (262) saw respective increase.