The Japan Patent Office’s (JPO) 2010 Annual Report was published in May. The 200-page report disclosed both domestic and international trends in applications, registrations, time for pendency, number of trials and other data of interest. The following are some of the highlights.
General Trends for 2009:
The number of patent applications filed in Japan has been teadily declining since 2006. In 2009, the number dropped for the 4th consecutive year totaling 348,596 (down 10% from the previous year)A similar downward trend is seen in trademark applications where the number dropped 7% from 119,185 to 110,841.
The Cause:
JPO cites the recession as a major factor in the decline in numbers. However, they also mentioned that there has been a shift in application strategies that has moved from “high volume” to“high quality”.
[Applications]
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Patents | 436,865 | 439,175 | 421,044 | 413,092 | 423,081 | 427,078 | 408,674 | 396,291 | 391,002 | 348,596 |
| New Utility Model | 9,550 | 8,778 | 8,587 | 8,155 | 7,983 | 11,386 | 10,965 | 10,315 | 9,452 | 9,507 |
| Designs | 38,496 | 39,423 | 37,230 | 39,267 | 40,756 | 39,254 | 36,724 | 36,544 | 33,569 | 30,875 |
| Trademarks | 145,668 | 123,754 | 117,406 | 123,325 | 128,843 | 135,776 | 135,777 | 143,221 | 119,185 | 110,841 |
“New Utility Model Applications” are applications that were filed under the new law in or after 1994 after the date of enforcement.
International Trends:
While the annual number of patent applications filed in Japan has been declining over the years, the number of international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT applications)with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as the receiving office has grown by.5% over the previous year.
[Patent PCT Applications]
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Patents | 24,290 | 26,422 | 26,935 | 28,027 | 29,291 |
Other data of interest include:
- The number of patent applications filed in Japan by foreign residence declined by 12% to 53,281.
- The number of trademark applications filed in Japan by foreign residence was down 13.3% at 20,367.
- The highest number of international applications by foreign residence by country are (1) United States at 22,367 (2) Germany at 6,602 (3) Republic of Korea at 4,782.
