Taiwan IPO releases statistics of top 100 patent applicants and grants for 2022

　Taiwan IPO released the statistical rankings for patent applications filed and patent grants in 2022.  Among the overall applications filed for all three kinds of patents, TSMC still headed the list by filing 1,534 applications in 2022 as the top domestic applicant, clinging to the top spot for seven consecutive years, while Applied Materials won the crown with 881 applications filed in Taiwan to be the top foreign applicant for the first time.  As to the number of patents granted for all three patent types, TSMC and Qualcomm each took the lead on the list of patent grants to domestic and foreign applicants with 1,196 grants and 573 grants, respectively.  

　Statistics of patent applications and rankings of the top 100 applicants are summarized as follows.

1.  TSMC still grabs the top ranking as the most prolific domestic applicant for seven consecutive years, while the overall applications filed for all three kinds of patents have been climbing for the 5th year in a row.

　Companies active in the semiconductor, display, and ICT industry sectors made the list of top 10 domestic applicants, among which TSMC has held on to the first spot with 1,534 applications since 2016, ahead of Acer, which had filed 530 applications, and AU Optronics, which had filed 505 applications.  Mediatek reached its record high to 412 applications with a 58% surge for the past three years.  Likewise, Nanya Tech and Innolux each also set their respective records for the past ten years by filing 371 applications and 336 applications, respectively.  

　The statistics shows that there had been a total of 12,771 applications filed for three types of patents by the top 100 domestic applicants throughout 2022, which marks a year-on-year increase of 4%.  The rise of filings by corporations and educational institutes led to a growth of 4% and 14% in the number of applications for invention patent applications (9,555 cases) and design patent applications (793 cases).  Besides, the filings of utility model patent applications filed by corporations and research institutes also increased by 3% (2,423 cases).  

2.  Taiwan Cooperative Bank surpassed other local banks to take the lead in overall patent applications, while MEGA International Commercial Bank filed the most applications for invention patents 

　There were six local banks appearing on the top 100 applicants list, among which Taiwan Cooperative Bank grabbed the top spot with 220 patent applications, trailed by the Bank of Taiwan with 214 applications and MEGA International Commercial Bank, which finished the 3rd by filling 205 applications and led the pack by filing the most invention patent applications (53 cases).  Besides, Taishin International Bank won a place on the list for the first time with 87 applications.  

3.  Taipei City University of Science & Technology outnumbered other local universities and schools in the number of overall patent applications, and National Cheng Kung University filed the most invention patent applications 

　Twenty-eight schools were named the top 100 domestic applicants for overall patents with Taipei City University of Science and Technology ranking 1st for three consecutive years by filing a total of 162 applications.  A breakdown by the number of invention patent applications filed by schools shows that National Cheng Kung University contributed most of the invention patent applications filed by schools and colleges by filing 135 applications for invention patents, ahead of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University with 125 filings, National Tsing Hua University with 108 filings, and National Taiwan University with 77 filings.  

4.  Industrial Technology Research Institute stayed firmly at the 1st place for overall patent applications filed by research institutions

　There were two research institutions recognized as the top 100 domestic applicants for patents of any types.  The Industrial Technology Research Institute, which finished 8th in the overall rankings, outshined other research institutions by filing 331 applications and was followed by the Metal Industries Research that filed 87 applications at the 41st position.  

5.  The numbers of overall patent applications filed by foreign applicants grows for three straight years and Applied Materials is named the top foreign applicant for the first time. 
    
　Most of the overall patent applications filed by the top 10 foreign applicants were for the semiconductor, ICT, and chemistry industry sectors.  Applied Materials ranked the first for the first time by filing 881 applications, marking its own record high for the past ten years, heading Qualcomm at the second place with 763 applications and Samsung rose to the third spot with 675 applications.  Samsung also reached its record high for the past ten years.  In addition, Meta Platforms Technologies and Shin-Etsu Chemical got an entry in the list of top 10 applicants for the first time with 293 applications and 275 applications, respectively.  

　To sum up, the top 100 foreign patent applicants had collectively filed a total of 14,556 applications for three kinds of patents throughout 2022, which represents a 3% rise attributable to the 6% growth in the invention patent applications accounting for 90% of the overall applications in 13,069 cases.  Likewise, the similar growth occurred also to the utility model patent applications by 22% in 181 applications.  (Released 2023.02.10)  
/CCS