The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) recently published the filing statistics for last year. In 2022, there are 72,059 patent applications and 94,778 trademark applications filed. Due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic for three consecutive years, Taiwan patent and trademark applications decreased slightly by 0.76% and 1.19%, respectively. However, the number of invention patent applications was increased by 2.29%, exceeding 50,000 applications and reaching a record high in recent years, mainly due to the increase of filings from large enterprises. Namely, the invention patents are still important strategy and assets for many big companies to stay competitive in the global market. The following are relevant statistics of Taiwan patent and trademark applications filed in 2022.
Table 1: The number of Taiwan patent applications in the past three years
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invention | 46,664 | 49,116 | 50,242 |
| Utility Model | 17,555 | 15,796 | 14,662 |
| Design | 8,019 | 7,701 | 7,155 |
| Total | 72,238 | 72,613 | 72,059 |
Table 2: Number of applications from domestic applicants and foreign applicants
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicant | Domestic | Foreign | Domestic | Foreign | Domestic | Foreign |
| Invention | 19,012 | 27,652 | 19,547 | 29,569 | 19,400 | 30,842 |
| Utility Model | 16,445 | 1,110 | 14,543 | 1,253 | 13,669 | 993 |
| Design | 3,947 | 4,072 | 3,534 | 4,167 | 3,411 | 3,744 |
| Total | 39,404 | 32,834 | 37,624 | 34,989 | 36,480 | 35,579 |
| Percentage | 54.54% | 45.45% | 52.02% | 48.18% | 50.63% | 49.37% |
Table 3: Main countries (regions) and number of patent applications in Taiwan
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | IN | UM | DE | Total | IN | UM | DE | Total | IN | UM | DE | Total |
| Japan | 12,110 | 66 | 1,071 | 13,247 | 12,221 | 61 | 1,042 | 13,324 | 12,078 | 52 | 998 | 13,128 (↓1%) |
| USA | 6,265 | 94 | 999 | 7,358 | 7,011 | 133 | 842 | 7,986 | 7,671 | 97 | 749 | 8,517 (↑7%) |
| China | 2,669 | 638 | 454 | 3,761 | 3,022 | 782 | 449 | 4,253 | 3,493 | 573 | 358 | 4,424 (↑4%) |
| Korea | 1,731 | 10 | 141 | 1,882 | 2,223 | 8 | 157 | 2,388 | 2,582 | 46 | 147 | 2,775 (↑16%) |
| Germany | 931 | 12 | 222 | 1,165 | 1,047 | 8 | 233 | 1,288 | 991 | 7 | 244 | 1,242 (↓4%) |
Table 4: Number of applications for trademark registration in Taiwan in the past three years
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Applicant | 72,170 | 73,374 | 74,326 |
| （percentage） | -76.70% | -76.50% | -78.42% |
| Foreign Applicant | 21,919 | 22,543 | 20,452 |
| （percentage） | -23.30% | -23.50% | -21.58% |
| Total applications | 94,089 | 95,917 | 94,778 |
| Overall classes | 119,660 | 123,217 | 122,320 |
Table 5: Main countries (regions) and number of applications for trademark registration in Taiwan
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 4,575 | 4,929 | 4,324 (↓12%) |
| USA | 3,814 | 4,032 | 3,572 (↓11%) |
| Japan | 4,013 | 3,437 | 3,546 (↑3%) |
| Korea | 1,541 | 1,571 | 1,573 (↑0.1%) |
| Hong Kong | 1,577 | 1,548 | 1,120 (↓28%) |
Table 6: Top categories (Nice International Classification) and number of applications for Taiwan trademark registration in 2021 (annual increase)
| Classes | Domestic Applicants | Classes | Foreign Applicants | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 35 (advertising, business operation, etc.) | 15,220 （↑0.98%） | Class 9 (computer and technology products, etc.) | 4,493 （↓2.07%） | |
| Class 30 (coffee, tea, pastries, etc.) | 7,308 （↓1.84%） | Class 35 (advertising, business operation, etc.) | 2,839 （↓6.39%） | |
| Class 43 (restaurant, lodging, etc.) | 7,206 （↑1.71%） | Class 42 (scientific and technological services) | 2,220 （↓0.05%） | |
| Class 41 (education, entertainment, etc.) | 5,317 （↑7.46%） | Class 5 (pharmaceuticals, etc.) | 2,199 （↓20.64%） | |
| Class 5 (pharmaceuticals, etc.) | 5,295 （↓7.54%） | Class 3 (toiletries, detergents, etc.) | 2,164 （↓10.24%） | |
| Class 9 (computer and technology products, etc.) | 4,343 （↑2.04%） | Class 41 (education, entertainment, etc.) | 1,855 （↑1.92%） | |
| Class 3 (toiletries, detergents, etc.) | 4,139 （↓6.44%） | Class 25 (clothing, footwear, etc.) | 1,529 （↓9.89%） |
Table 7: Top five applicants with the number of categories of Taiwan trademark registration applications in 2022
| Domestic Applicant | Number of Classes | Foreign Applicant | Number of Classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Uni-President Enterprises | 834 | 1. Ipplus Technology Singapore | 150 |
| 2. Wowprime | 189 | 2. Tencent Holdings | 94 |
| 3. King Car | 163 | 2. Johnson & Johnson | 94 |
| 4. Cathay Life Insurance | 128 | 4. Guangdong Longshun Logistics | 86 |
| 5. Kaohsiung Recreation | 98 | 5. ION Cosmetics | 80 |
| 5. ION Pharmaceuticals | 80 |
Note: For top patent applicants, please refer to our newsletter of “2022 Taiwan Top 100 Patent Applicants.”
Table 8: TIPO Processing period for Taiwan patent and trademark applications in 2021
| Invention Patent | Trademark | |
|---|---|---|
| Average time for issuance of a first opinion letter by TIPO | 8.7 months | 5.2 months |
| Average time for issuance of a decision by TIPO | 14.3 months | 8.8 months |
