Taiwan IPO releases the list of top 100 patent applicants for 2015

Taiwan IPO released the statistics of patent applications and patent certificate issuance for 2015.  Among domestic corporate applicants, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. that has been taking the lead in the number of patent applications still retained the 1st place with 659 applications in 2015 which is fewer than ever due to their patent monetization strategy.  TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited) surpassed ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) for the first time with 503 applications in the same year, moving up to No. 2, which represents TSMC’s best performance for the past ten years in regard to the number of their patent applications or rankings.  ITRI finished the 3rd place by filing 466 applications. 

As for foreign corporate applicants, subsequent to its topping the list in 2012, Intel reclaimed the 1st ranking with 956 applications, the most brilliant performance for the past ten years in terms of application number and growth rate.  Intel was followed by Toshiba at the 2nd notch with 413 applications and Tokyo Electron at the 3rd position with 404 applications.  By the yearly 10%~20% growth in number of patent applications for the past two years, Toshiba demonstrated their keen attempt in patent mapping. 

The overall invention applications filed by major corporate applicants of all industries show that the semiconductor industry had implemented aggressive patent mapping strategies; for example, Intel’s (956) and Samsung’s (194) applications increased by 3 and 1.4 times, while TSMC also saw their fast growth (502 applications). 

It is also noticeable that the top 100 patent applicants include 32 domestic universities and colleges.  Far East University claimed the top honor among the other domestic universities and colleges with 278 applications and was named No. 6 among the top 100 domestic corporate applicants.  It also grabbed the 1st ranking as the top Taiwanese private university whose applications for invention patents surged to 107.  Conversely, Far East University’s applications for utility model patents dropped by 40%.  Among the domestic national universities and colleges named among the top 100 patent applicants, National Tsing Hua University remained at the No. 1 position by filing 123 applications for invention patents, fewer than those of the previous year.  It is worth mentioning that National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University, and National Cheng Kung University have always been the major university applicants, and they however have experienced their respective lows in the past few years, even though they were not absent from the list for 2015.  After seeing their respective recession in the number of applications for invention patents for the past straight three years, National Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University had about 10% growth in 2015 with 105 applications and 101 applications, respectively.  National Taiwan University filed a total of 38 applications only, a sharp decline from the 239 applications in 2009. 

Moreover, there were six domestic research institutions named on the list, among which ITRI embodied their energetic creative force into a total of 466 applications in 2015.  Metal Industries Research & Development Center filed a total of 135 applications in 2015, which is their best performance in recent years.  (February 2016)
/CCS