Foreign Firms' Q3 Patent Applications Lead in Taiwan

According to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Taiwan's  Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), foreign firms applied in Q3 6,827 invention patents, increasing 1.35% from the same quarter last year.

The top-five foreign applicants are LG Chem, Toshiba, Fujifilm, Applied Materials, and Nitto Denko, with the top-five applicant nations being Japan, the United States, South Korea, China, and Germany.

Three of the top-five applicant companies are liquid crystal display-related (LCD-related) manufacturers, according to the IPO, indicative of Taiwan's global status as supplier of LCD panels.

LG Chem, Intel, Apple, Samsung, and Applied Materials led as top applicants of Taiwan patents over the past few years.

Compared with foreign applicants, local companies submitted fewer applications in Q3 with only 4,617 submissions, down 12.04% year on year, but is actually slower in decline than the 16.4% in the previous quarter, according to the IPO.

Hon Hai Group, a major contract manufacturer of electronic products, again led as patent applicant in Q3, but with  applications down 70.7% quarter-on-quarter with only 190 submissions to mark a steep contraction for the fourth quarter, which begs the question: Are Taiwan’s enterprises losing competitiveness?

To which Hon Hai executives respond that the firm continues unchanged its investment in R&D as will the group’s subsidiaries as planned.

Over the past three years, Hon Hai's applications has declined to less than one-fifth of the 1,000-plus peak in Q4, 2012. Throughout the first nine months this year, its  applications for local patents dwindled over 61% year on year.

The group’s application volume so far this year has not exceeded the 849 submissions recorded in Q2, 2014.

Senior IPO officials ascribe the all-time low application numbers mostly to refocusing on quality rather than quantity, that applicants are more concerned with patents that help build business and bottom-line when business climate is unfavorable.  (KL)

Top-five Applicants of Taiwan’s Invention Patents in Q3, 2014

Ranking	Foreign company		Local company
	Company	Application volume	Company	Application volume
1	LG Chem	173	Hon Hai	190
2	Toshiba	156	AUO	102
3	Fujifilm	115	Acer	94
4	Applied Materials	106	Wistron	74
5	Nitto Denko	104	Innolux	62

Source: IPO