Statistics on Taiwanese patent and trademark applications received by IP5 and TM5 in 2020

　COVID-19 pandemic has been raging around the world to wreak dreadful havoc on global economic activities and consumption.  Spread of the pandemic triggers and speeds up the digital transformation of the industries in many countries and causes the five major patent and trademark offices to elevate with full blast the competitive advantages and IP strategic positioning of their respective countries (regions).  As revealed in the 2020 statistics released by the USPTO, JPO, EPO/EUIPO, KIPO, and CNIPA, except for CNIPA and KIPO, the other three offices had received fewer invention patent applications throughout 2020, while there had been an overall increase in the number of design patent applications.  Trademark registration applications also saw their growth except at JPO.  

　According to the latest statistics provided by the WIPO, the average expenditures in research and development around the world grew by 8.5% in 2019.  Taiwan’s Taipei-Hsinchu clusters of innovation had been the 44th major applicants of PCT applications for the period from 2015 through 2019 and is the 28th clusters of science and technology in 2021 around the world.  Taiwanese applicants filed their patent and trademark applications mostly in the US and China.  The creative and innovative capacity and strength of Taiwan cannot be underestimated.  

　In 2020, even though the US and China are still the major target countries for Taiwanese applicants’ invention patent portfolio building, the numbers of patent applications filed at USPTO and CNIPA were 1.8% and 3.5% down to 19,241 cases and 10,766 cases, respectively.  However, Taiwanese applicants had filed their design patent applications in the US, Europe, and China with most applications in the number of 1,326 cases filed at CNIPA, marking a decrease at 19% instead.  Contrary to the descending number of applications filed in China, there had been a total of 1,205 design patent applications filed by Taiwanese applicants at USPTO, and 617 at EPO, which represents 7.5% and 18.0% rise, respectively.  

　

　Analyzed by categories of Taiwanese trademark applications filed at TM5 offices, most applications for 2,142 categories were filed at the USPTO, followed by those filed for 1,355 categories at the EPO.  In terms of the number of applications, CNIPA received a total of 14,441 applications from Taiwanese applicants, while JPO received 884 applications (without statistics by category).  Also, there was a 26.8% dive in the number of trademark applications filed by Taiwanese applicants at CNIPA but a 6.9% rise at USPTO.  

　Please click the link below to access Taiwan IPO’s latest “Statistics on Patent and Trademark Applications and Approvals in the USA, Japan, the EU, South Korea, and China” (in Mandarin) at https://www.tipo.gov.tw/tw/cp-174-219414-a1c98-1.html.  (Released 2021.10.06)

/CCS