Intellectual property application trends in Taiwan, China, in the first half of 2023

In the first half of 2023, Taiwan received a total of 34,611 invention patent applications, utility model patent applications, and design patent applications. Among them, 24,256 were invention patent applications, a decrease of 0.2% from the same period last year. There were 9,390 applicants from Taiwan and 14,866 foreign applicants, an increase of 9% among applicants from this region. There were 3,508 pieces of exterior designs, an increase of 2% over the same period last year.

The top ten applicants for invention patents are: TSMC with 1,171 applications, ranking first for seven consecutive years; MediaTek with 321 applications, an increase of 114%, the largest increase among all applicants, Innolux with 181 applications, and Inventec with 132 applications. The number of cases set the highest record for each company since 2016.

The top five patent applicants for appearance designs are: Acer ranked first with 55 patents, and Lianfu Plastics had 44 patents, an increase of 76%. Among the top five foreign applicants for industrial designs, Swiss Cartier ranked first with 72 applications for the first time.

There were 14,866 invention patent applications filed by foreigners, 1% less than the same period last year. Among the top five applicant countries, Japan topped the list with 6,216 applications. Among the top 10 applicants, Samsung Electronics jumped to first place with 430 applications, setting a record in the company’s history. South Korea's Hanling filed 159 patent applications, a year-on-year increase of 258%.

In the field of trademarks, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Bureau accepted a total of 44,653 trademark registration applications, involving 56,198 categories, a decrease of 4% from the same period last year, which was the first decrease after three consecutive years of growth in the same period. There were 35,169 applicants from Taiwan and 9,484 foreign applicants, both showing negative growth. Uni-President Enterprise once again ranked first with 239 cases. The largest number of applications in Taiwan is Category 35 (advertising, business operations, retail and wholesale services, etc.) with 7,162 applications.

Among foreign trademark applicants, Mainland China had the most applications with 2,391 applications, and SAIC-GM-Wuling Motors ranked first with 84 applications. The largest number of foreign trademark applications was in Category 9 (Computer and Technology Products) with 1,895 applications.

The trademark acceptance category still ranked first among all industries with 12,198 trademark applications for "agricultural food materials", followed by "commercial finance" with 9,374 applications and "health and medical care" with 8,936 applications. Taiwanese applicants were the most active in the "agricultural food" industry with 10,246 projects, mainly involving restaurants and accommodation, while foreign applicants were most active in the "technical research" industry with 3,106 projects.