Recent Trends in Business-related Inventions

• Business-related invention^* is an invention in which business method is realized using Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
• The patent system aims to contribute to the development of industry through the protection of technology. Therefore, an idea of itself cannot be eligible subject matter, even if it is a ground-breaking idea for sales management or production management.
• On the other hand, an invention in which such idea is realized using ICT would be eligible subject matter as Business-related invention.

^* We define the patent application classified into G06Q as IPC or FI as "Business-related invention". The definition of "Business-related invention" is used only in this research, and does not express an official definition from the Japan Patent Office.

• With the progress of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) or artificial intelligence (AI) promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the utilization of Business-related invention is getting attention from the industry.
• As an example of Business-related invention using IoT, consider a model consisting of the steps ① to ⑥ as follows; ① Collecting data from various sensors or devices, ② Transferring the collected data, ③ Storing the transferred data in the storage system as "Big Data", ④ Analyzing the stored data by using AI etc. and outputting new data, ⑤ Utilizing the output data to any service, ⑥ Establishing business model in IoT. In this model, the system embodying own company's business model can be protected as Business-related patents regarding ⑤ utilizing data and ⑥ establishing business model.

• The number of domestic patent applications for Business-related invention has been characteristically transitioning (Graph 1). The downward trend after the application boom in 2000 turned to increase in around 2012 and 11,747 applications were filed in 2020.
• This increase is assumed to be caused by the activation of R & D on the solution business following the industrial structure change from "products" to "services". Another reason is that new services using ICT are being created in new fields such as finance, due to development in AI and IoT technologies in addition to the spread of smartphones and SNS to the public.
• The grant rate of business-related inventions was initially sluggish, but has been rising year by year (Graph 2), reaching 74% which is equivalent to other technical fields in 2017.

• According to the number of business-related applications by field (Graph 3), the top three fields in 2020 are:
  • (1) Services in general (e.g. accommodation, restaurant, real estate, transportation and communication)
  • (2) Commerce (e.g. E-commerce, auction, market forecast and online advertisements)
  • (3) Administration; Management (e.g. in-house operation system, production management, inventory management, project management and staffing)
• In the field of "Services in general", it is considered that the diversification of services provided on smartphones and online increased the number of applications. In particular, dispatch services such as taxi, vacation rental business and real estate tech diversify in transportation, accommodation and real estate, respectively and these are considered to be factors for the increase in the number of applications in this field.
• The increasing number of applications for "Commerce" is considered to be due to the rise of e-commerce including flea market apps and online auctions, and the accompanying activation of marketing and advertising businesses.
• A typical example of "Administration; Management" is an invention that utilizes AI to optimize in-house business systems and inventory management.
• "Finance" including FinTech is also large next to the top three fields and the number of its applications has been increasing. In recent years, financial services that users can easily receive via smartphones have increased in the finance field (e.g. smartphone payment and household account app).
• Although the number of applications related to primary and secondary industries is small, it has approximately tripled from 2014 to 2020 and it can be seen that problem solution using ICT has spread to a wide range of fields.

• Business-related inventions are highly compatible with AI (especially machine learning technology that makes decisions by learning data), and there are increasing cases of solving business problems by using AI.
• It can be seen that the number of applications for AI-related inventions in the top four fields mentioned above in business-related inventions has been on the rise since 2015 (Graph 4). In particular, the number of "Commerce" has been increasing year by year, so it is thought that inventions of AI have been increasing, such that make a prediction about and optimize e-commerce and marketing based on purchase history data, etc.

• The number of applications for business-related inventions in each country is on the rise as a whole (Graph 5).
• The number of applications in China is rapidly increasing, and it is 50,000 over in and after 2018.
• The number of applications filed in the US had been on the decline since 2014, due to Alice decision* by Supreme Court in 2014, which made it difficult to obtain business-related patents in US, but increased in 2019. The increase is assumed to be caused by the revision of examination guidance in January 2019, which improved predictability of examination of business-related inventions.
• The number of applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) is the lowest among the five major patent offices, probably due to strict judgment on inventive step for business-related inventions by the EPO.

• ^* Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct.2347 (2014).