Release of Japan Patent Office Annual Report 2022

1. Key points in the report

The following are some of the key points covered in Part 1, Important Statistical Data through Graphs.

(1) Number of applications for patents and requests for patent examinations

There were 289,200 applications for patents and 238,557 requests for patent examinations in 2021, increases of 728 and 6,342 respectively from the previous year.

(2) Number of patent applications and design registration applications submitted to Japan from abroad

The number of patent applications submitted to Japan from the United States and Europe had been decreasing until 2020 but increased in 2021. The number of patent applications submitted to Japan from China continued to increase.
In addition, the number of design registration applications submitted to Japan from China continued to increase rapidly and exceeded the number of design registration applications from the United States.

(3) Current situation regarding trademark examinations

As a result of further strengthening and streamlining the examination system to prevent increasingly long examination periods, the number of primary examination notifications (FAs: First Actions) in 2021 increased by 23.3% from the previous year.

2. Key points for the report's revised structure

The 2022 report combines the Main Body and Statistics and Materials sections—formerly separate volumes—into a single, compact report. It also focuses on statistical data and narrows down the points covered to give readers a better understanding of the current situation regarding applications and registrations from Japan and abroad, and examinations and trials.
Specifically, the report consists of Part 1, Important Statistical Data through Graphs, and Part 2, Detailed Statistical Data—both of which contain statistical data—and an appendix that explains measures taken by the Japan Patent Office.
Part 1 contains key statistical data in the form of graphs that are easy to understand visually, as shown in 1 above, and explains points of interest regarding trends surrounding IP.
Part 2 provides a variety of statistics and materials concerning IP, including the statistical data that the graphs in Part 1 are based on, mainly presented in the form of tables. The statistical data in Part 2 are also available as a CSV file.
The appendix contains a comprehensive list of the Japan Patent Office's measures, outlines them with their main outcomes in FY2021, to make it easy to gain an overall picture of the measures.
Putting all the information into a single, compact document like this means that for the 2022 report, everything in the PDF version is now provided in one booklet, unlike the previous approach of publishing extracts from the PDF versions on the Japan Patent Office's official website.

3. Website for the report

• Japan Patent Office official website: Japan Patent Office Annual Report 2022 (in Japanese)

Division in Charge

Policy Planning and Research Division, Policy Planning and Coordination Department, Japan Patent Office