The number of patent applications and registrations in 2006
The Japan Patent Office published some statistical information including number of patent applications and registrations for the period from January through December 2006. The table below shows part of this statistical information:
|
|
Number of patent applications | Number of request for examination | Number of issues of first office actions | Number of patent registrations |
| 2002 | 421,044 | 237,345 | 215,288 | 120,018 |
| 2003 | 413,092 | 243,836 | 226,420 | 122,511 |
| 2004 | 423,081 | 328,105 | 234,109 | 124,192 |
| 2005 | 427,078 | 396,933 | 243,548 | 122,944 |
| 2006 | 408,674 | 382,116 | 292,756 | 141,399 |
The number of patent applications in 2006 decreased by 18,404 from 2005, or about 4.3 %. On the other hand, the number of patent registrations in 2006 increased by 18,455 over 2005, approximately a 15.0 % increase.
The increase in number of patent registrations in 2006 might primarily be due to the increase in number of requests for examination in 2005.