12 FY2011 Analysis of Trends in Applications for Industrial
Property Rights Aimed at Achieving New Growthin the Japanese Economy(*)
Attention is increasingly being paid to the role that intellectual creation activities can play in achieving new
economic growth in Japan, and expectations regarding this role are growing. Accordingly, research and discussions
concerning an intellectual property system that will elicit this new economic growth are flourishing. Amidst thissituation, in considering future policies and measures relating to intellectual property, it is extremely important toempirically analyze the intentions of companies and other organizations both within Japan and overseas when using
systems for the protection of intellectual property, as well as examining the effects that are being obtained from this.
This study incorporated the research outcomes accumulated to date, while also making use of the Survey onIntellectual Property-Related Activities conducted by the Japan Patent Office and databases such as PATSTAT
and a Chinese patent database. A total of seven empirical analyses were carried out: “Statistical Analysis ofPatent Applications by Japanese Applicants”; “Statistical Analysis of Design Registration Applications by
Japanese Applicants”; “An Analysis of the Intellectual Property Strategies of Start-up Companies”;“Mechanisms that Cause Backlogs in Patent Examination and Determinants of Examination Efficiency”; “A
Statistical Analysis of Patent Applications in the East Asia Region (Excluding Japan)”; “A Statistical Analysis
of Unused Patents and Company Profitability”; and “An Empirical Analysis of the Ownership Structure of the
Research Output of Universities and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Moreover, deliberations wereconducted regarding the revision of the survey design of the Survey on Intellectual Property-Related Activities.

Ⅰ Introduction
The patent system is one of the mostimportant parts of the infrastructure supporting
innovation activities and data concerning patentapplications plays a vital role as an indicator formeasuring the research and development
activities of companies. Due to this, research into
innovation using patent data and the patent
system as a whole has intensified considerablyworldwide in recent years, and the patent officesof various major countries are strengthening theireconomic analysis.
Amidst this situation, as part of this study(Analysis of Trends in Applications for Industrial
Property Rights Aimed at Achieving New Growthin the Japanese Economy) commissioned by theJapan Patent Office and conducted by the Instituteof Intellectual Property, seven empirical analyses
were carried out: (1) “Statistical Analysis ofPatent Applications by Japanese Applicants”; (2)“Statistical Analysis of Design Registration
Applications by Japanese Applicants”; (3) “An
Analysis of the Intellectual Property Strategies ofStart-up Companies”; (4) “Mechanisms that
Cause Backlogs in Patent Examination andDeterminants of Examination Efficiency”; (5) “A

Statistical Analysis of Patent Applications in the
East Asia Region (Excluding Japan”; (6) “A
Statistical Analysis of Unused Patents andCompany Profitability”; and (7) “An Empirical
Analysis of the Ownership Structure of the
Research Output of Universities and Small andMedium-sized Enterprises”. In addition, in order
to increase the benefits derived from the Survey
on Intellectual Property-Related Activities, a further
four themes were analyzed: “Deliberations
Concerning Estimation Methods in General”;“Deliberations Concerning Data Cleansing”;“Revision of Techniques for the Selection ofSurveySubjects
amongstSmall-scale
Applicants”; and “Deliberations Aimed at
Increasing Survey Accuracy and the Response
Rate”.
Even when positioned amidst the trend
towards strengthening international research,
this study appears to have yielded quite
significant results.
In addition to the aforementioned research
projects, the fact that, as part of this study,
members of the committee had the opportunity toparticipate in an international conference at theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office wascrucial not only to the aforementioned research(*) This is an English translation of the summary of the report on the FY2011 research project contracted out by theJapan Patent Office, entitled “FY2011 Analysis of Trends in Applications for Industrial Property Rights Aimed at
Achieving New Growth in the Japanese Economy”.
●

IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

1 ●projects, but also to the execution of this study,
not to mention making an intellectual
contribution based on Japan's own experience. It
is hoped that further research based on aninternational perspective will be carried out inthe future, making use of this kind ofinternational academic exchange and cooperation.
(Sadao NAGAOKA)Ⅱ Analysis of Trends in Applications
for Industrial Property Rights
1

Statistical
AnalysisofPatentApplications by Japanese Applicants

The number of patent applications has been
demonstrating a downward trend in recent years.
For example, according to the Japan Patent Office
Annual Report 2011, since 2000, the number ofpatent applications in Japan has been declining,with a particularly pronounced downward trend
being observed since 2005.
This paper elucidates, as far as possible, thefactors relating to increases and decreases in thenumber of patent applications by Japaneseapplicants in recent years, by using statisticaltechniques to analyze fluctuations over time inregard to the correlation between the number ofpatent applications in Japan by Japaneseapplicants and such data as indicators relating to
the actual status of Japanese applicants, Japanese
economic indicators such as the exchange rate
and the Nikkei Stock Average, and trends inpatent applications in various other countries.
The main conclusions are as follows.
(i)

Applicants do not submit patent applications
regarding all of the inventions that theycreate. In recent years in particular, patentapplications have been submitted after
stringent selection of inventions, and it has
become clear that this is what has made thebiggest contribution to the reduction inapplications in Japan.

(ii) Although it is a fact that a shift is taking
place towards overseas applications by both
Japanese and foreign applicants, no clear
substitution relationship could be detectedby means of statistical analysis. On thecontrary, it became clear that there is acomplementary relationship, in whichapplications are submitted within Japan at thesame time as international or overseas
applications. However, this is only an interim●

result. More rigorous analysis is anticipatedin the future.
(iii) Statistically, it was possible to detect a
relationship wherein an increase in invention
productivity brings about an increase inapplications within Japan. However, it was
not possible to reach the unequivocal
conclusion that there is a relationshipwherein a decrease in invention productivity
brings about a decrease in applications within
Japan. Nevertheless, it is clear from theresults of the analysis that a slight decrease
in invention productivity brings about amajor reduction in the number of domestic
patent applications, which might suggest that
there is a need to revise corporate strategies
or national policy relating to research anddevelopment activities within Japan.
(iv) It is undeniable that the decrease in budgets
for intellectual property-related activities has
had a greater impact on patent applications
within Japan than had been anticipated. In
particular, as it was observed that the impact
on budgets for intellectual property-related
activities increased around the time of theLehman Shock, it is possible that the
reduction in budgets for intellectual
property-related activities after the Lehman
Shock had major implications in terms of areduction in the number of patentapplications within Japan, caused by thestringent selection effect.
(Yoichiro NISHIMURA, Kenta NAKAMURA)
2

Statistical
Analysisof
DesignRegistration Applications by JapaneseApplicants

The number of applications for design
registration
byJapaneseapplicantsisdemonstrating a downward trend, having peakedin the mid-2000s. The fact that it has become
possible to use partial design applications toprotect an extensive range of rights, whilst
curtailing the number of total applications, andthe theory that the increase in intellectual
property costs resulting from the increase inapplications in other countries is being coveredby the reduction in applications within Japan havebeen pointed out as factors behind the decline in
the number of applications; however, none of thisis anything more than conjecture, and there wasno statistical evidence to support it. Accordingly,

2 ●IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

in this study, three analyses were carried out inorder to identify the factors behind the decline in
the number of applications.
Part 3 is an exploratory analysis using
individual data concerning applications for design
registration. The main results are as follows: (i)at the macro level, the decline in the number ofapplications from 2005 onwards and the rise in
the proportion of partial design applications
appear to correspond with each other; (ii) the
decline in the number of applications is aphenomenon that has been observed in many
design classifications and one cannot necessarily
say that the fact that the number of applications
fell in a specific field led to a decrease in thenumber of applications at the macro level; and (iii)
when design registration applicants werestratified by the number of applications, there wasa marked decrease in the number of applications
by applicants who had hitherto been large-scale
applicants, and it was this fact that had an impact
on the decline in the number of applications at themacro level.
Parts 4 and 5 used regression analysis toanalyze the determinants of the number ofapplications. In particular, they focused on thepropensity to use the partial design system andwhether applications for design registration filed
in other countries have a negative effect onapplications within Japan, but neither the
hypothesis regarding partial design nor thatregarding applications overseas was supported in
the analysis at the article field level (Part 4) or at
the applicant level (Part 5). On the other hand, it
became clear that research and development
activity and the length of time for which design
rightsaremaintained
havesignificant
interpretability in regard to the number ofapplications. This fact suggested that the factors
behind the recent decline in the number ofapplications include the impact of stagnation in
research and development activities and therefinement of applications in product fields withshort life-cycles. Moreover, when a dummy
variable that differentiates between the period
before and after the revision of the Design Act
was used in regression analysis, it was discoveredthat the number of applications has been
decreasing since the revision of the Design Act. It
is unlikely that the strengthening of design rights
would cause a reduction in applications, so fromthe Design Act revision dummy, one can interpretthe revision as more strongly supplementing theimpact of the strengthening of the Unfair
Competition Prevention Act, which took place the●

IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

year before the revision of the Design Act. In
addition, it was discovered that the effects of therevisions of the Design Act and the Unfair
Competition Prevention Act are dependent on thelength of the product life-cycle (average period
for which rights are maintained). In fields inwhich the average period for which rights aremaintained is short, while extending the
maximum term of design rights has only a small
effect in terms of increasing incentives to fileapplications, the benefits of design protection
under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act caneasily be enjoyed. This suggests that thedecrease in applications in this kind of field is afactor contributing to the decline in the number ofapplications at the macro level.
(Kenta NAKAMURA)
3

An Analysis of the Intellectual Property
Strategies of Start-up Companies(1) The Intellectual Property Strategies ofStart-up
Companies
under
Open
Innovation
This study empirically elucidates what typeof intellectual property strategies start-up
companies are implementing in response to theadvance of open innovation that is currently
taking place.
In open innovation, the role of start-up
companies as new leaders of innovation isemphasized, similar to the role played byuniversities. For start-up companies, which lackin-house resources, such as an accumulation oftechnology, production equipment and businesshubs, working in partnership with large
corporations and universities under the open
innovation framework can be described as a
crucial opportunity to correct those deficiencies,
and it is hoped that start-up companies will
become increasingly prosperous in the future. At
the same time, with regard to the question of thesort of innovation that start-up companies within
Japan are actually oriented towards and active in,it cannot be said that adequate analysis usinglarge-scale data has been carried out as yet. In
this study, the status of innovation activities
emerged, including trends in applications andrequests for examination amongst such start-up
companies, as well as the situation relating totheir use of rights.
As a result of the analysis, the question ofwhether, in light of the progress of open
innovation, patent applications and requests for
examination, working of patents by the company

3 ●holding that patent, and licensing out are
intensifying
amongststart-upcompanies
established less than ten years ago was analyzed
empirically. In the analysis results, it became
clear that compared with other companies,
start-up companies submit many overseas
applications and that they are also actively
engaging in licensing out. Moreover, it emergedthat patent applications and requests for
examination demonstrate an upward trend overtime.
More or less the same trend can be seenamongst companies in the pharmaceuticals
industry, the electrical machinery industry andthe software industry, where start-up companies
are exceedingly important. In particular, theresults obtained showed that the working ofpatents by the company holding the patent ismore common amongst start-up companies in theelectrical machinery industry than amongst
start-ups in any other industry, whilst start-ups inthe pharmaceuticals industry were more active inlicensing out their patents than start-ups in otherindustries. These results strongly suggest that
open innovation using licensing out isintensifying in the pharmaceuticals industry inJapan as well.
(Koichiro ONISHI, Shigeki HAYASHI)(2) The Expansion of the Scope of Rights in
Regard to Software Patents and theProfitability and Financing of Software
VenturesThis study empirically analyzes the impact of
the extension of the scope of rights in regard to
software patents during the 1990s on therelationship between small and medium-sized
software companies and venture capital. In 1993,
it became possible to patent software integrated
with hardware; following on from this, in 1997 it
became possible to patent software recorded on
media, such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs, and in
2002 it became possible to patent software
programs themselves. Moreover, examination
standards concerning business model patents
were clarified after the 1998 State Street Bank
ruling in the US. In the event that the extensionof the scope of rights in regard to software
patents could be expected to have the effect ofincreasing the profitability of software companies,
one would anticipate that investment in this kindof industry by venture capital would increase as aresult of that extension of the scope of rights.
Moreover, when small and medium-sizedenterprises receive investment from venture●

capitalists, there is a possibility that patents havea type of signaling function, demonstrating thatthe company in question has a level of technicalability that permits them to submit a patentapplication. As the extension of the scope ofrights makes it feasible to submit patentapplications in fields where this was notpreviously permitted, it becomes possible tosecure more investment. In the event that these
two effects were observed, one could likely saythat the extension of the scope of rights in thetechnological field in question was promoting
innovation, at least amongst small andmedium-sized enterprises.
In the estimate results, it became clear thatapplications for software patents by small andmedium-sized software companies are linked toinvestment by venture capitalists. This resultshows that software patents have a signaling
function, while at the same time demonstrating
the possibility that the policy-based expansion of
the scope of rights increases this kind of signaling
effect.
With regard to the impact of changes in thesystem itself on the behavior of venture
capitalists, one could see a result that supports
the hypothesis that the approval of medium
patents in 1997 had a positive effect on theirinvestment activities. This result demonstrates
that the expansion of the scope of patent rights
has the effect of increasing the profitability of thesoftware industry itself.
(Koichiro ONISHI, Shigeki HAYASHI, Isamu
YAMAUCHI)
4

Mechanisms that Cause Backlogs inPatent Examination and Determinants of
Examination Efficiency

In this study, an empirical analysis was
conducted of the causes of the occurrence of
backlogs and determinants of examination
efficiency in Japan.
The number of inventions in regard to whichapplicants are requesting the swift establishmentof rights is growing, so eliminating backlogs andimproving examination efficiency are extremely
important tasks. Defining cases in which there
has been a request for examination but a final
decision has not yet been reached as a backlog,
when the focus was restricted to inventions inwhich the request for examination was made by
2005, it became clear that the backlog in Japan isdemonstrating an upward trend. In particular, therise in the examination request rate resulting

4 ●IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

from the reduction of the examination request
period greatly increased the backlog. Moreover,in addition to the fact that the number of
amendments and written opinions submitted per
request for examination has been demonstrating
an upward trend over the long term, the fact thatthe reduction in the examination request period
increased the number of times that amendments
and written opinions were submitted is thought tohave been a major factor behind the growth of thebacklog.
Amidst this situation, it became clear inempirical terms that the expansion ofopportunities for outsourcing prior art searches
has not only considerably improved theperformance of examiners in regard to thenumber of examinations carried out, but mightalso have increased the quality of examinations.
It emerged that if examiners outsource
specific sections, the number of examinations
that an examiner carries out per month increases
considerably, as does the number of cases thatreach a final decision at an early stage (within two
years of the request for examination).
Furthermore, it became clear that a rise in theoutsourcing rate considerably reduces thecommunication period in the case of final refusalin particular, and it also reduces the frequency of
trials against an examiner's decision to refuse anapplication, as well as trials for invalidation ofdecisions of registration. In other words, there isa possibility that being able to outsource searches
has a positive effect on the quality of
examinations. Consequently, one can say that
outsourcing prior art searches has potentially not
only made a major contribution to eliminating thebacklog, but also contributed to increasing
examination efficiency.
(Isamu YAMAUCHI, Sadao NAGAOKA)
5

A Statistical Analysis of Patent
Applications by the East Asia Region(Excluding Japan)

In this paper, a study was conducted
regarding trends in patent applications in the East
Asia region, with a particular focus on patentapplications in China and Chinese patentapplications overseas. Accordingly, this study
firstly compared data recording accuracy in thedata recorded in the EPO Worldwide Patent
Statistical Database (PATSTAT), which wascompiled by the European Patent Office, and a
database purchased from the Intellectual Property
Publishing House of the Chinese State●IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

Intellectual Property Office (CNIPR). The
PATSTAT database has been widely used in thestatistical analysis of patents in recent years, but
it has been ascertained that there are many
problems with the data recorded concerning
Chinese patents.
Firstly, the number of records forapplications in each year does not correspond to
the CNIPR data, and from 1998 onwards,
PATSTAT contains more. The records were also
compared with the search results obtained fromthe patent search service that can be used on thewebsite of the State Intellectual Property Office,but the number of applications recorded in thethree databases all differ. Secondly, theinformation about applicants and inventors
recorded in PATSTAT, which is based on DOCDB,
has many deficiencies and errors in the data whencompared with CNIPR. The proportion of joint
applications by multiple applicants is 7.7% in
CNIPR, but only 1% in PATSTAT. Basically, only
the name of the principal applicant is recorded in
PATSTAT. However, with regard to information
about the addresses of applicants, even CNIPR
only records this for the principal applicant.
Thirdly, with regard to applications through the
PCT, PATSTAT contained less than 30% of theinformation that CNIPR recorded about thecorrespondence between the application numbersof the Chinese Patent Office and international
application numbers. Finally, there was no major
disparity between the two databases in regard to
the number of applications in which priority
claims were made concerning overseas patents.
With regard to trends in applications to theChinese Patent Office, the proportion of
applications by overseas residents peaked at
approximately 70% in the latter half of the 1990s,
falling to 45% in 2007. The number of applications
by individuals resident within China is also
demonstrating a downward trend, while thenumber of joint applications is growing. Moreover,the number of Chinese patents for which
overseas applications were filed with a priority
claim via the Paris Route was around 130,000,
while those filed through the PCT totaled 220,000,
demonstrating that these are still limited in
number.
(Naotoshi TSUKADA)

6

A Statistical Analysis of Unused Patents
and Company Profitability
This paper statistically analyzed (1) what

5 ●kind of relationship exists between the proportionof unused domestic patents and company
profitability rates; and (2) what kind of
relationship exists between the proportion ofunused domestic patents and the proportion ofunused overseas patents. The main conclusions
are as follows.
(i)

It was not possible to detect throughstatistical analysis a relationship in which theoperating margin declined as the proportionof unused patents increased by the year.
Moreover, it was not possible to perceive
statistically a relationship in which theoperating margin was lower, the higher the
proportion of unused patents that a company
had.

(ii) The hypothesis that there is an inverse
relationship between the globalization ofJapanese companies overseas and the
proportion of unused foreign patents wasbroadly supported from statistical result.
(iii) The tendency for the proportion of unused
overseas patents to increase in industries inwhich technology transfer is difficult, as
technology transfer can easily fail, wasverified.
(iv) It became clear that the more a company
expands into countries with a strong
intellectual property system, the more it
exercises its exclusive rights and the more it
uses overseas patents.
In this paper, the data identification process
by applicant’s name was carried out when
consolidating various data and the results of theanalysis are those obtained in light of the various
constraints that exist in regard to this process. In
this sense, caution is necessary, as the conclusionof this paper includes some tentative elements.
Moreover, due to time constraints, it was notpossible to conduct more stringent quantitative
analysis. Firstly, in the analysis of the relationshipbetween unused patents and profitability, not only
profitability, but also the competitive position in
the product field and the competitive position in
the technological field could be explained
variables, and it is possible to verify the indirect
effect of the unused patent rate on the
profitability of the company. Secondly, an analysis
was carried out focused on the relative difference
between overseas unused patent rates and●unused patent rates within Japan. It is possible toconduct analysis using binary variables, forexample, with the value being set at 1 if theoverseas unused patent rate is considerably
higher than the domestic rate, and at 0 if this is
not the case, and it is likely that more robust
analytical results could be obtained if this werecombined with the analysis in this paper. One
would like to make these matters a task for the
future.
(Yoichiro NISHIMURA)
7An Empirical Analysis of the Ownership
Structure of the Research Output ofUniversities
and
Small
and
Medium-sized Enterprises: From the
Perspective of Joint Invention and Joint
Application with Large Corporations

The reasons why large corporations submit
sole applications in regard to joint inventions
include (a) it is more efficient to concentraterights in the hands of large corporations, whichhave greater ability and potential to work thoserights; (b) large corporations have stronger
bargaining power than small and medium-sizedenterprises and universities, so they can
opportunistically increase their share of rights tothe outcomes of joint research; and (c) large
corporations have a high level of awarenessconcerning intellectual property, so they have agreater incentive to establish rights on behalf ofsmall and medium-sized enterprises anduniversities, which are not motivated to establish
rights, with the objective of preventing theestablishment of rights by a third party. (a) and (c)have the potential to increase social welfare, but(b) will, in the long term, become a contributing
factor to decreasing research and development
incentives
for
small
and
medium-sizedenterprises and universities, so is socially
undesirable.
Accordingly, this study focuses on cases inwhich the transfer of rights to joint research has
already taken place at the point at which thepatent application is submitted, and empiricallyanalyzes the sort of cases in which joint
inventions developed by large corporations andsmall and medium-sized enterprises or by large
corporations and universities end up becoming
patent applications submitted solely by the large
corporation in question. Focusing on the field offuel cells, in which research and development has
been conducted jointly by industry, academia and6 ●IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

government as a priority field in Japan's scienceand technology policy, this study conducts
empirical analysis using detailed patentbibliographic information, corporate financial data,and information about the places of employment
of inventors.
As a result of this analysis, it emerged that injoint research involving companies within thesame corporate group, it is common for one of thecompanies to be the sole owner of the right,
whereas in joint research with a company outside
its corporate group, it is basically more common
for the rights to be shared. On the other hand, inthe case of joint invention with a small or
medium-sized enterprise outside the corporategroup, it emerged that it is common for the large
corporation to submit a sole application. In
particular, it was ascertained that, in cases inwhich there is a difference in scale between thecompanies conducting the joint research, thehigher the value of an invention, the more likely
it is that the right to it will be owned solely by thelarge corporation.
It became clear that, in joint research withnational universities, there is a greater likelihoodthat rights will be distributed appropriately. Large
corporations
proposejoint
research
touniversities when they are finding it difficult tofind an appropriate joint research partner
elsewhere, so in this sense, it would seem thatthe bargaining power of these universities iscomparatively high.
(Kazuma EDAMURA, Isamu YAMAUCHI,
Koichiro ONISHI)

Ⅲ Deliberations Regarding the
Revision of the Survey Design of
the Survey on Intellectual
Property-Related Activities
1

Deliberations Concerning
Methods in General

Estimation

This paper considered the estimation
method deemed to be preferable after comparing
the existing estimation method with anestimation method called resampling, while
examining the estimation method best suited toeach type of industrial property right. Moreover,it considered the method deemed to be preferable
after comparing the numerical values obtained
from estimates over time. The main conclusions
are as follows.
(i)

The problems with the existing estimation●

IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

method have already been pointed out, but ina comparison with the resampling estimation
method, it became clear that there is scope
to improve precision further, even whenusing the existing estimation method.
(ii) If the existing estimation method is not to bechanged greatly, an estimation method does
exist that is an improved version of theexisting estimation method discussed in thispaper. The characteristics of this improved
estimation method are (A) the fact that it has
a different extension ratio for each type ofindustrial property; (B) the fact that it only
stratifies at the level of the number ofapplications; (C) the fact that it first of all
carries out an extended estimate by stratum
at the five or more applications level; (D) thefact that it carries out an overall estimatebased on the extension ratio in Table 12 after
carrying out the extended estimate bystratum at the five or more applications
level; and (E) with regard to Table 12, thefact that when conducting a study, thenumerical values for the overall extension
ratio can be updated using OLS estimation.
(iii) With regard to extended estimates andoverall estimates concerning utility models
and trademarks, it became clear that further
deliberations are required in relation not only
to estimation methods, but also to survey
design.
(iv) With regard to extended estimates andoverall estimates concerning the survey
items other than the number of applications,
it is not necessarily the case that application
behavior and economic behavior relating tothese survey items correspond, so it would
seem to be preferable to confine oneself toaggregating the figures.
(Atsushi NISHIO, Yoichiro NISHIMURA, Isamu
YAMAUCHI, Koichiro ONISHI)
2

Deliberations Concerning Data Cleaning

In this chapter, various logic checks wereconducted, in order to examine approaches to data
cleaning
intheSurvey on Intellectual
Property-Related Activities (intellectual property
study). The knowledge gained from logic checks
using single-year data is as follows. Firstly,
although the response situation in regard to the
yes/no field is good, there are cases in which the

7 ●yes/no field and the numeric field are inconsistent.
However, this inconsistency is infrequent, so it
seems that replacing the numeric field with ablank field would be a good measure to counter
this when tabulating the surveys. Secondly, inregard to many items, it was discovered that
there are anomalies in the figures that make up
the total. In particular, there are many cases inwhich the total of all the figures is greater thanthe overall total (superordinate concept). In thissituation, it is not possible to determine whether
the anomalies are in the individual figures orwhether there is an anomaly in the overall figure.
Accordingly, if dealing with this rigorously, thevalues for all of the individual figures and theoverall total should be excluded fromconsideration, but there is a possibility that thiskind of measure would greatly reduce the numberof valid responses. Consequently, all that can bedone is either to add a note to the questionnairethat will ensure that respondents avoid anomalies
in the individual figures, or to submit a query toindividual respondents when any anomalies are
discovered. Thirdly, it emerged that there are
frequent inconsistencies in the response situation
across a number of questions. No effective
measure to deal with this point has been
discovered at present either, but in the future, itwould seem to be preferable to avoid this kind oferror by switching from a paper-based survey to
one in which responses are provided via the web.
Moreover, the possibility was suggested thatdata suspected to have been noted incorrectly
could be identified by conducting a logic checkusing panel data. Of course, one cannot assume
that these are abnormal values just because there
are large fluctuations in the data. However, withregard to some of the survey items, such as
stated capital and research expenses, it was
ascertained that one could identify errors ofnotation, such as errors in the order of magnitude,
comparatively easily. In reports on intellectual
property surveys, data such as stated capital areused to aggregate various intellectual property
activities into groups, so it is necessary to be
especially thorough in checking for anomalous
values in regard to such items. Moreover, withregard to a number of survey items, it became
clear that the responses were heavily dependent
on the judgment of the person completing thesurvey, in relation to the definition of thequestion.
One challenge for the future is the questionof how to correct any errors of notation that aredetected and within what range these should be●corrected. It goes without saying that, aftergathering the questionnaire responses, it isnecessary to identify any errors as soon as
possible and query them with the respondent
concerned, but in the future, it would seem to be
worth considering making corrections to the data,using other government statistics (such as the
Economic Census) or external corporate financial
data as complementary data.
(Kenta NAKAMURA, Yoichiro NISHIMURA,
Koichiro ONISHI, Naotoshi TSUKADA, Isamu
YAMAUCHI)
3

RevisionofTechniquesfortheSelection of Survey Subjects amongst
Small-scale ApplicantsThis paper considers techniques forselecting survey subjects when conducting theSurvey on Intellectual Property-Related Activities
amongst those who have submitted between one
and four applications for either a patent, utility
model, design right or trademark (hereinafterreferred to as “small-scale applicants”),
examining whether sampling by industry type ispreferable, or whether it would be more desirable
to conduct sampling by prefecture or by whether
the survey subject is an individual, corporation or
government body. Moreover, this paper points out
the problems that exist when the population ofsmall-scale applicants is constructed on the basisof applications. The main conclusions are as
follows.
(i)

It became clear that in both types of survey,
application behavior in regard to all fourtypes of industrial property right actuallydiffers more by industry type than bywhether the survey subject is an individual,
corporation or government body or by
prefecture (however, with regard to utility
models in the second survey, application
behavior did not differ that greatly in the
results by industry type); (ii) in both types ofsurvey, with regard to whether or not thequestionnaire was returned, it emerged that
there was a greater difference by industry
type than by whether the survey subject is
an individual, corporation or government
body or by prefecture. In other words, theseanalysis results suggest that it is preferable
to stratify by industry type, in order to
conduct a survey in keeping with the actual
status of application behavior and the
response rate.

8 ●IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

(ii) With regard to the construction of an
applicant base using the number ofapplications, which fluctuates each year, andof a population of small-scale applicants
based on actual applications two years
previously, it is conceivable that this could be
dealt with by further improving the
population construction method by means of
the existing applicant base. In any case,further careful discussion and analysis isrequired.
(Atsushi NISHIO, Yoichiro NISHIMURA,
Isamu YAMAUCHI, Koichiro ONISHI)
4

that while results that are generally consistent
are obtained in regard to licensing income andexpenditure within Japan relating to patents andutility models, the values relating to design rights
and overseas licensing income and expenditure
are far too low in the Survey on Intellectual
Property-Related Activities.
(Koichiro ONISHI)(Researcher: Tsuyoshi UCHIDA)

Deliberations Aimed at Increasing
Survey Accuracy and the Response
Rate

In order to contribute to improving thesurvey precision and response rate of the Survey
on Intellectual Property-Related Activities, thisstudy examined the extent of valid responses andthe precision of those responses, focusing
primarily on survey items relating to licensing.
More specifically, firstly, the question of whether
there was consistency between response items
was analyzed by means of a logic check of the
FY2010 survey. Secondly, a comparison of
aggregate data was made between the basic
survey on corporate activities and the science andtechnology research survey, in which there aresimilar survey items.
As a result of the analysis, in regard tosurvey items relating to licensing, it became clear
that
the
valid
response
rate
throughself-reporting by respondents (the column about
whether or not they engage in licensing) is veryhigh. However, in a comparison of consistency
between survey items, it emerged that there is atendency for consistency to decline between
items, in the following order: patents and utility
models, trademarks, and design rights. Moreover,in the case of respondents with few cases oflicensing, it became clear that there is a
downward trend in regard to consistency.
Furthermore, in a comparison at the aggregate
value level with the Basic Survey of JapaneseBusiness Structures and Activities and the Surveyof Research and Development, which, like theSurvey on Intellectual Property-Related Activities,
have survey items relating to licensing income
and expenditure, from the perspective of thecoverage rate relating to the number of licenses
held and the survey population, it became clear●

IIP Bulletin 2012 Vol.21

9 ●