The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has released the results of a survey focusing on patent applications in the fields of environmental and energy technology and of information and communications technology. The survey highlights a number of Japanese specificities, in comparison with the USA, the European Union, China and Korea.

According to the survey, Japanese companies filed an especially high number of patent applications related to next-generation car technology (such as electric and hybrid cars). The share of Japanese applications in the total number of applications filed worldwide in this technological field is indeed as high as 72%. Other domains of predilection of Japanese applicants include “Solar batteries” and “Network-related POS system”, with 68% of the total number of applications being Japanese, and “Information equipment and household appliances network control technology”, with 58%. Japan doesn’t rank as well, however, in “Search technology in a networked society”, with the USA at 48% and Japan at 29%. But while US companies have filed a greater number of applications in the field of media data analysis technology (used in Internet searches), Japan leads the USA and the rest of the world in terms of patent applications related to data analysis of videos and maps.

Source: (i) http://japan.cnet.com/marketing/story/0,3800080523,20391812,00.htm (ii) http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0415/TKY200904150347.htm (iii) http://www.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/news/20090416/146901/