Patent Requests Drop for 4th Consecutive Year

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office announced on Feb 8 that patent filings from the island dropped 2 percent to 72,442 in 2016, representing a fall for the fourth consecutive year. Filings were affected by the sluggish economy, as both applications and annual maintenance require payment, said Hong Shu-min, director-general of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. The decline is also due to the fact that the island's educational authority has switched its emphasis from encouraging patent applications to stimulating industrialization, she added.

Source | ChinaDaily

Editor | Roger