Why Japan boasts of the most patent applications in the world

Abstract

Japan is the second largest recipient of patent filing in the world. This paper will investigate the reason why there are more residential patent applications in Japan than in the USA or Europe. We focused on the number of patent applications which did not request examination (non-request examination). We created multiple regression expression on the number of residential patent applications in Japan, and analysed the influence volume of some factors. The result of our study showed that the past number of patent applications with non-request for examination is the most important determinant in the number of residential patent applications in Japan. In addition, we also found that the differences in the industry field has almost no influence. The results of this will be helpful for Japanese enterprises to manage patent applications more efficiently.