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Recent Trends in Business-related Inventions

December 2024
Patent Examination Department (Electronic Technology),
Japan Patent Office

Contents

  1. Outline of Business-related inventions
  2. Application Trends in Business-related inventions
  3. Reference Information about Business-related inventions

1. Outline of Business-related inventions

1-1. What are Business-related inventions?

  • Business-related invention*1 is an invention in which a 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 itself cannot be eligible subject matter for patent protection, even if it is a ground-breaking idea for sales management or production management.
  • On the other hand, an invention in which such an idea is realized using ICT would be eligible subject matter as a Business-related invention.
  • *1 "Business-related invention" is defined as patent applications to which G06Q is designated under IPC or FI. The definition of "Business-related invention" is used only in this research and does not represent an official definition by the Japan Patent Office.

(figure) Business method ICT Business related ingentions

1-2. Business-related inventions in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

  • With the progress of new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) or artificial intelligence (AI) promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the utilization of Business-related invention is capturing public/industry focus.
  • As an example of a Business-related invention using IoT, consider a model consisting of the steps (1) to (6) as follows; (1) Collect data from various sensors or devices, (2) Transfer the collected data, (3) Convert the transferred data into “Big Data" and store it in the cloud storage system, (4) Analyze the stored data using AI, etc. and output new data, (5) Utilize the output data generated through analysis in any service, (6) Establish an IoT business model. In this model, the system substantiating a person's company's business model can be protected as Business-related patents regarding (5) utilization of output data and (6) establishment of a business model.

(figure) IoT Model

2. Application Trends in Business-related inventions

2-1. Overall Trends in Application and Examination

  • The number of domestic patent applications for Business-related inventions has been transitioning characteristically (Graph 1). The downward trend after the application boom in 2000 turned to an increase in around 2012 and 13,411 applications were filed in 2022.
  • This increase is assumed to be caused by the activation of R&D in solution business areas following the industrial structure change from "products" to "services". Another reason is that new services using ICT have been created in new fields such as finance, due to development in AI and IoT technologies in addition to the spread of smartphones and SNS amongst the public.
  • The grant rate of Business-related inventions was initially sluggish but is rising year by year (Graph 2). Nowadays, it has remained steady at around 70%, which is equal to that of technical fields as a whole.

(Graph 1) The number of applications for Business-related inventions
Graph 1. The number of applications for Business-related inventions

(Graph 2) Patent grant rate for Business-related inventions(for the applications of which the main features are Business-related inventions)
Graph 2. Patent grant rate for Business-related inventions
(for the applications of which the main features are Business-related inventions)

Remarks

  • "Applications of which the main features are Business-related inventions" refers to an application with G06Q designated as the main FI.
  • "Applications that are Business-related inventions but have main features in other technical fields" refers to an application with G06Q as an FI but with other FI designated as the main FI.
  • The number of applications is the total number of (1) the number of domestic applications and (2) the number of international applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that have been converted to domestic applications in Japan. The number includes unpublished applications for which a decision of refusal, withdrawal including deemed withdrawal, or abandonment were made prior to publication.
  • The application data of PCT international applications is determined as the acceptance date of the domestic document.
  • Grant rate = number of decisions to grant a patent / (number of decisions to grant a patent + number of decisions of refusal + number of withdrawals or abandonment after FA)

2-2. Application Trends by Field

  • According to the number of applications for Business-related inventions by field (Graph 3), the top three fields in 2022 are:
    • (1) G06Q50/ excluding specific fields*2 and G06Q90/,99/ (Services in general) e.g., accommodation, restaurants, real estate, transportation and communication
    • (2) G06Q10/ (Administration; Management) e.g., in-house operation systems, production management, inventory management, project management and staffing
    • (3) G06Q30/ (Commerce) e.g., E-commerce, auction, market forecast and online advertisements
  • The increasing number of applications for "Services in general" reflects the diversification of services provided on smartphones and online. In particular, the transportation sectors, accommodation sectors, and real estate sectors are expanding into cab dispatch services, private accommodation business, and real estate tech, respectively, and these are thought to be the reasons for the increase in patent applications.
  • "Administration; Management", of which a typical example is an invention that utilizes AI to optimize in-house business systems and inventory management, has shown a particularly high growth rate since 2015.
  • 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.
  • Following the top three fields, "Finance" including FinTech has the next largest number of applications. This is considered to be due to the spread of financial services that allow users to transfer money and access other services via smartphones (e.g., smartphone payment and household account app).
  • Although the number of applications related to "Primary industry" and "Secondary industry" is small, the number of applications for primary industry has increased by approximately 6 times and for secondary industry by approximately 3 times from 2015 to 2022, indicating that problem-solving using ICT is prevalent in a broad range of fields.
  • *2 Specific fields are G06Q50/04,50/08 (Secondary industry), i.e., manufacturing, construction and others; G06Q50/06 (Energy); G06Q50/02 (Primary industry) i.e., agriculture, fishing, mining, and others; G06Q50/26 (Government or public services); G06Q50/20 (Education), which shall apply hereafter.

(Graph 3) The number of applications Business-related inventions by field
Graph 3. The number of applications Business-related inventions by field

Remarks

  • Graph 3 is based on primary FI assigned to "Applications of which the main features are Business-related inventions".
  • Correspondence between fields and FI and the number of applications for each year are as follows (see J-PlatPat ( External link ) for details of classification).
Industry Field 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

G06Q50/ excluding specific fields and G06Q90/,99/ (Services in general)

 1,224 1,089 1,412 1,486 1,852 2,243 2,744 2,935

G06Q10/ (Administration; Management)

 592 986 1,288 1,560 1,842 2,052 2,472 2,492

G06Q30/ (Commerce)

 1,150 1,282 1,365 1,579 1,754 1,986 2,218 2,383

G06Q20/,40/ (Finance)

 542 768 834 1,092 1,127 1,260 1,153 1,182

G06Q50/04,50/08 (Secondary Industry(Manufacturing, Construction and others))

 135 151 171 185 256 342 402 430

G06Q50/06 (Energy)

 178 258 170 229 242 255 309 348

G06Q50/26 (Government or public services)

 101 92 81 102 105 138 183 237

G06Q50/02 (Primary Industry (Agriculture; Fishing; Mining and others))

 35 59 96 77 151 158 231 214

G06Q50/20 (Education)

 62 75 86 91 83 111 118 114

2-3. AI-related Inventions and Business-related inventions

  • Business-related inventions are highly compatible with AI (especially machine learning technology that makes decisions based on data learning), and there are increasing cases of problem-solving in business using AI. In addition, there has been an increase in the number of cases where generative AI, such as ChatGPT, are being used in business.
  • The number of applications for AI-related inventions in the top four fields mentioned above in Business-related inventions has been rising since 2015 (Graph 4). The prominent fields are "Administration; Management" and "Service in general", which shows that a number of inventions realizing prediction or optimization of targets by using AI are increasing.

(Graph 4) The number of applications for AI-related inventions by field
Graph 4. The number of applications for AI-related inventions by field

Remarks

Industry Field 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

G06Q10/ (Administration; Management)

 6 21 62 127 154 153 251 219

G06Q50/ excluding specific fields and G06Q90/,99/ (Services in general)

 37 47 91 110 153 139 196 215

G06Q30/ (Commerce)

 12 28 44 76 104 150 137 147

G06Q20/,40/ (Finance)

 3 10 22 32 47 49 65 52

2-4. Application Trends in Major Countries

  • The number of applications for Business-related inventions has increased by 1 to 3 times over the past 11 years, with the exception of China (Graph 5).
  • The number of applications in China is growing rapidly, and it is in excess of 70,000 in 2021.
  • The number of applications in the US has generally remained at around 20,000 in recent years, although it has temporarily declined after 2014, probably due to the Alice decision*3 by the US Supreme Court in 2014, which made it difficult to obtain Business-related patents in the US. One factor that may have halted the decline is that the examination guidance was revised in January 2019, making the examination of Business-related inventions more predictable.
  • 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 steps for Business-related inventions by the EPO.
  • *3 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct.2347 (2014).

(Graph 5) The number of applications for Business-related inventions in major countries
Graph 5. The number of applications for Business-related inventions in major countries

Remarks

  • The number of applications for Business-related inventions in major countries corresponds to the applications classified into IPC: G06Q, regardless of whether or not it is a major classification.
  • Country codes in the graph corresponds as follows – JP: Japan; US: USA; EPO: Europe; CN: China; KR: Korea; WO: PCT international applications, regardless of the nationality of the applicant.
  • For Japan, China, and Korea, the number of applications includes those for utility models.
  • The graph is prepared by the JPO based on WIPO Patentscope ( External link ) data (searched on July 12, 2024). As the searched databases are different, the number of JP applications does not match the number of domestic applications in Graph 1.
  • The number of applications in major countries is as follows.
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
CN 4,572 5,925 8,669 11,211 17,155 29,293 41,078 52,646 58,499 67,396 75,107
US 11,826 15,306 17,912 19,197 17,632 17,373 18,506 18,734 20,485 19,603 18,089
KR 5,631 7,414 6,939 7,259 8,458 9,352 9,189 10,939 12,015 14,111 16,770
JP 4,980 5,634 6,125 6,454 6,122 6,999 7,902 8,692 9,534 10,015 10,848
EP 2,286 2,716 2,801 3,067 3,273 3,506 3,631 3,711 3,798 3,720 3,438
WO 3,409 4,656 4,792 5,044 6,036 6,449 6,739 7,812 7,931 7,833 7,812

3. Reference Information about Business-related inventions

  1. Examination Handbook for Patent and Utility Model in Japan Annex B Chapter 1 Computer Software-Related Inventions (PDF : 2,670KB)
  2. Examination Guidelines pertinent to IoT related technologies
  3. Patent Examination Case Examples pertinent to AI-related technologies
  4. Recent Trends in AI-related Inventions
  5. Japanese Page

[Last update: December 6, 2024]

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