Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) recently published statistics for patent and trademark applications filed in 2020. Last year TIPO received 72,238 total patent application with a drop of 3.23% compared to last year’s patent filings. Invention, utility model and design applications decreased by 3.32%, 0.14% and 8.91%, respectively. However, the trademark filings increased by 8.4% and accounted to 94,089 applications. For top-five trademark classes filed in overall trademark applications, there was a double-digit growth for domestic applicants, but were mostly declined for foreign applicants except those applications filed under Class 5 for pharmaceutical products.
Table 1: Number of Taiwan patent applications for recent three years
| Type of Patent | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invention | 47,429 | 48,268 | 46,664 |
| Utility Model | 17,910 | 17,580 | 17,555 |
| Design | 8,082 | 8,804 | 8,019 |
| Total | 73,421 | 74,652 | 72,238 |
Table 2: Number of patent applications filed by domestic and foreign applicants
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Foreign | Domestic | Foreign | Domestic | Foreign | |
| Invention | 18,365 | 29,064 | 18,984 | 29,284 | 19,012 | 27,652 |
| Utility Model | 16,661 | 1,249 | 16,412 | 1,168 | 16,445 | 1,110 |
| Design | 4,252 | 3,830 | 4,208 | 4,596 | 3,947 | 4,072 |
| Total | 39,278 | 34,143 | 39,604 | 35,048 | 39,404 | 32,834 |
| Percentage | 53.49% | 46.51% | 53.05% | 46.95% | 54.54% | 45.45% |
Table 3: Number of Taiwan patent applications filed by major origins
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IN | UM | DE | Total | IN | UM | DE | Total | IN | UM | DE | Total | |
| Japan | 12871 | 74 | 1224 | 14169 | 13195 | 74 | 1329 | 14598 | 12110 | 66 | 1071 | 13247 |
| USA | 6393 | 175 | 777 | 7345 | 6341 | 184 | 912 | 7437 | 6265 | 94 | 999 | 7358 |
| China | 2595 | 615 | 296 | 3506 | 2723 | 560 | 415 | 3698 | 2669 | 638 | 454 | 3761 |
| Korea | 1766 | 12 | 118 | 1896 | 1656 | 16 | 142 | 1814 | 1731 | 10 | 141 | 1882 |
| Germany | 1197 | 9 | 305 | 1511 | - | - | - | - | 931 | 12 | 222 | 1165 |
| Hong Kong | - | - | - | - | 1,018 | 118 | 146 | 1282 | - | - | - | - |
| Note: IN, UM and DE refer to invention, utility model and design, respectively. | ||||||||||||
Table 4: Number of Taiwan trademark applications for recent three years
| Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic applicants (percentage) | 59,840 (70.55%） | 61,928 （71.35%） | 72,170 （76.7%） |
| Foreign applicants (percentage) | 24,976 （29.45%） | 24,866 （28.65%） | 21,919 （23.29%） |
| Total applications | 84,816 | 86,794 | 94,089 |
| Overall classes | 110,074 | 111,681 | 119,660 |
Table 5: Number of Taiwan trademark applications filed by major origins
| Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 5,770 | 6,108 | 4,575 |
| Japan | 4,728 | 4,748 | 4,013 |
| USA | 4,187 | 3,621 | 3,814 |
| Hong Kong | 1,649 | 1,617 | 1,577 |
| Korea | 1,440 | 1,668 | 1,541 |
Table 6: Number of Taiwan applications under top-five trademark classes filed in 2020
| Nice classification | Domestic applicants | Nice classification | Foreign applicants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 35 （advertisements, business operation, etc） | 13,230 （+19.18%） | Class 9 （computer and technology products, etc.） | 4,389 （-9.33%） |
| Class 43 （restaurants, lodging, etc.） | 7,461 （+12.73%） | Class 35 （advertisements, business operation, etc.） | 2,776 （-16.28%） |
| Class 30 （coffee, tea, pastries, etc.） | 7413 （+18.45%） | Class 5 （pharmaceuticals, etc.） | 2,750 （+3.03%） |
| Class 5 （pharmaceuticals, etc.） | 5,942 （+29.17%） | Class 3 （toiletries, detergents, etc.） | 2,522 （-13.51%） |
| Class 3 （toiletries, detergents, etc.） | 4,811 （+21.88%） | Class 41 （education, entertainment, etc.） | 1,815 （-10.89%） |
Table 7: Top applicants of Taiwan trademark applications filed in 2020
| Domestic applicants | Number of applications | Foreign applicants | Number of applications |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Uni-President Enterprises | 749 | 1. Huawei (China) | 121 |
| 2. Wowprime Corp. | 284 | 2. Shiseido (Japan) | 114 |
| 3. EasyCard Corp. | 183 | 3. Kao (Japan) | 96 |
| 4. President Fair Development Corp. | 154 | 4. Star Plus Development Limited (BVI） | 88 |
| 5. Thirteen Thirteen Co., Ltd. | 137 | 5. Capcom Co., Ltd. (Japan) | 83 |
Table 8: Examination pendency in 2020 for Taiwan patent and trademark applications
| Invention Patent | Trademark | |
|---|---|---|
| Average time to issue first opinion letter | 8.7 months | 4.7 months |
| Average time to issue decision | 13.9 months | 6.5 months |
