Newsletter
COMPARISON OF TRENDS IN TAIWANESE AND PCT PATENT APPLICATIONS
Data recently announced by the Intellectual Property Office shows that in Taiwan, as in the rest of the world, the main focus of industrial development is in the areas of semiconductors, image display (flat panel displays and their components, liquid-crystal electro-optical dis-plays), digital content, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. The bulk of patent applications in Taiwan are in the areas of trendsetting new products such as communications products (e.g. wireless broadband networking products), digital video, semiconductors, crystal wafers, electronic micromechanical components, optoelectronics, and biotechnology. The number of invention patent applications is growing rapidly, in line with trends in developed countries.
Taiwanese and PCT invention patent applications in 20 leading technological fields
| Technological Field | Corresponding IPC (7th ed.) subclasses | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2005 (%) | 2005 PCT (%) |
| Semiconductor devices | H01L | 4,923 | 4,393 | 3,446 | 16.58% | 2.70% |
| Basic electronic circuitry; electric communication | H03, H04 | 2,426 | 2,589 | 2,513 | 12.09% | 4.50% |
| Instruments 1 (optical) | G01–G03 (except G01N 33) | 2,117 | 3,264 | 2,235 | 10.75% | 3.70% |
| Instruments 3 (semiconductor applications) | G09–G12 | 1,770 | 2,279 | 1,522 | 7.32% | |
| Data processing | G06F (except 17/60) | 1,378 | 230 | 1,395 | 6.71% | 5.20% |
| Basic electrical and electromechanical elements | H01 (except H01L) | 1,470 | 1371 | 1,117 | 5.37% | |
| Generation, transmission and conversion of electric power; electric heating | H02, H05 | 1,220 | 1259 | 976 | 4.69% | |
| Forming | B21–B32 (except B31) | 1,275 | 1,337 | 867 | 4.17% | |
| Transportation | B60–B68 | 838 | 437 | 748 | 3.60% | |
| Healthcare and leisure | A61–A63 (except A61K, A61P) | 638 | 714 | 550 | 2.65% | 2.20% |
| Organic chemistry | C07 (except C07K) | 626 | 822 | 478 | 2.30% | 2.70% |
| Macromolecular compounds | C08 | 750 | 1087 | 458 | 2.20% | |
| Instruments 2 (measurement) | G04–G08 (except G06F) | 415 | 557 | 415 | 2.00% | |
| Inorganic chemistry, wastewater treatment | C01–C05, C30 | 467 | 621 | 376 | 1.81% | |
| Pharmaceutical preparations | A61K (except 35/66–35/76, 38, 39, 47/42, 48, 49/14, 49/16, 51/08, 51/10) | 340 | 489 | 367 | 1.77% | 5.90% |
| Daily use items | A41–A47 | 197 | 276 | 342 | 1.65% | |
| Dyestuffs, petroleum, animal and vegetable oils and fats | C09–C11 | 419 | 627 | 340 | 1.64% | |
| Separation and mixing | B01–B09 | 478 | 529 | 340 | 1.64% | |
| Biotechnology | A01H, A01K 67, A0IN, A61K 35/66–35/76, 38, 39, 47/42, 48, 49/14, 49/16, 51/08, 51/10, A61P, C07K, C12, G01N 33 | 251 | 380 | 334 | 1.61% | 1.70% |
| Metallurgy, surface treatment of metals, electroplating | C21–C23, C25 | 587 | 739 | 329 | 1.58% | |