Korean Patent Applications Increased by Over 5% Last Year... 2nd Highest Growth Rate Among Top 5 Advanced Countries

Status of patent offices in IP5 countries, number of applications by nationality, and growth rates. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The number of domestic patent applications in South Korea increased by 5% compared to the previous year. Unlike the general stagnation or decline in patent applications among the five advanced patent countries due to the impact of COVID-19, South Korea's patent application growth rate was the second highest among these five countries.

According to the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) (IP5 Core Statistical Indicators 2021) on the 21st, the total number of patent applications filed last year in the world's five major advanced patent countries?South Korea, the United States, China, Japan, and Europe?was approximately 2.89 million, marking a 3.7% increase from the previous year.

Among these, the total number of patent applications filed in South Korea was 237,998, showing a 5.0% increase compared to the previous year. This is the second highest growth rate among the IP5 countries, following China (5.9%).

During the same period, the United States saw a 1% decrease in patent applications, Japan remained stagnant with a 0.3% increase, and Europe experienced a 4.6% growth rate.

Another notable point is the increase in foreign nationals filing patent applications in South Korea. Among foreign applicants in South Korea last year, Chinese applicants increased by 47.5%, and American applicants by 18.4% compared to the previous year.

These foreign applicants (from China and the United States) primarily focused their domestic patent applications on fields such as video games, audio and video, and measurement (including semiconductor processes and autonomous driving).

This trend is explained by the Korea Intellectual Property Office as reflecting South Korea's expanding market share in the global advanced technology market, positioning Korea as a key stage for determining success in entering related markets.

Kim Yong-hoon, Director of the Information Customer Policy Division at the Korea Intellectual Property Office, stated, “It is very positive that our companies are pursuing patent rights through R&D investments linked to the economic conditions and trends of major countries worldwide.” However, he added, “Considering the increase in domestic patent applications by foreign companies in promising technology fields such as measurement and audio-video, it is necessary to prepare countermeasures to respond to potential patent disputes that may arise in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.