KIPO "Race for Patents on National Core Technologies... Protecting Export Industries"

If Industrial Property Rights Increase by 1
Industrial Sales Rise by Around 1 Billion KRW
Patent Applications and Export Scale Are Proportional

Secondary Battery Patent Applications
Up 11.5% in the First Half of This Year
Corporate Export Scale Also Up 66%

Policies Utilizing Patent Data
For Economic Security and Technology Protection

An analysis revealed that if the scale of industrial property rights holdings increases by 1%, the scale of industrial sales rises by 0.35%. Additionally, it was found that an increase of one industrial property right results in an effect of raising industrial sales by around 1 billion KRW. There is a claim that utilizing patent data is important for securing and protecting national core technologies.

◆ ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ as a Means to Secure Industrial and National Competitiveness = According to the Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute on the 20th, the proportion of intangible assets in a company's value is increasing in the knowledge-based economic society. The U.S. intangible asset valuation specialist company Ocean Tomo analyzed that the proportion of intangible assets in the U.S. S&P 500 index surged from 17% in 1975 to 90% in 2020. In South Korea, it is also evaluated that more than half of corporate value consists of intangible assets.

In particular, intellectual property rights, a concept encompassing patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, trademark rights, and industrial property rights, are regarded as intangible values indispensable in the protection of rights and value measurement among a company's intangible assets. Recently, intellectual property rights have rapidly emerged as the most powerful tool for securing industrial and national competitiveness.

Globally, activities related to industrial property rights such as patents (applications) and the scale of rights acquisition and holdings (the scale of maintained rights among registered industrial property rights) are also increasing. In South Korea, the scale of domestic industrial property rights holdings has been steadily growing at an average annual rate of 5.7% from 2013 to 2022.

Kang Kyungnam, a research fellow at the Patent Statistics Center of the Korea Intellectual Property Research Institute, explained, “Since the effect of holding industrial property rights is significant, movements to strengthen industrial competitiveness by utilizing various types of industrial property rights are also prominent. This is why the government and companies need to strategically approach by understanding the characteristics of industrial property rights holdings by industry and securing rights.”

◆ Is There a Proportional Relationship Between Patent Application Increase and Export Scale Expansion? = The era of technological hegemony triggered by the technological supremacy competition between the U.S. and China. As the importance of intellectual property rights grows, the competition for patent preemption of core technologies by country is fierce. Above all, since patent preemption also affects the expansion of export scale, competition among countries is expected to continue.

South Korea is no exception. For the same reason, recently, patent preemption centered on national core technologies has become prominent.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office analyzed the patent applications (107,000 cases) filed domestically in the first half of this year by 35 technology fields of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was found that the number of patent applications in major national core technology fields such as secondary batteries increased by 13.6% compared to the same period last year. Compared to the 4.1% increase in total domestic patent applications during the same period, this is more than three times higher.

By technology field, the number of applications increased as follows: ▲ Secondary batteries from 7,770 cases in the first half of last year to 8,660 cases in the first half of this year (11.5%↑) ▲ Semiconductors from 5,699 cases to 6,580 cases (15.5%↑) ▲ Digital communications from 4,438 cases to 5,110 cases (15.1%↑). This is interpreted as the result of domestic companies accelerating patent acquisition to maintain leadership in advanced technologies.

Above all, the Korean Intellectual Property Office emphasized that patent applications act as a leading indicator of corporate export activities. The logic is that as patent applications increase, the export scale in the corresponding field also grows, showing a kind of proportional relationship. In fact, the export scale of domestic companies in the secondary battery (cathode materials) field, where patent applications increased significantly in the first half of this year, was a total of 7.49 billion USD, showing a 66% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

◆ Utilizing Patent Data for Economic Security and Technology Protection = Considering the intensifying competition for technological hegemony among countries and the growing importance of national core technologies, there is also a persuasive argument that policies for securing technological leadership and technology protection should proceed in tandem.

In this regard, the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the National Assembly held a “National Assembly Forum to Promote the Use of Patent Data in the Era of Technological Hegemony” at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 19th. The forum was organized to confirm the strategic value and importance of utilizing patent data and to discuss the legislative necessity to expand the use of patent data.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office is implementing policies to utilize patent data to secure the technological competitiveness of the nation and companies. Recently, it has reorganized patent data-based industrial analysis focusing on 12 national strategic technologies to discover key technologies while placing more emphasis on support for preempting core technologies.

Also, in the National Assembly, the “Act on the Management and Promotion of Utilization of Industrial Property Information (Industrial Property Information Utilization Promotion Act),” proposed by lawmakers Kang Hoon-sik and Han Mu-gyeong, is currently submitted to the Industry, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee.

Kim Yonghun, Director of the Industrial Property Information Policy Division at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, emphasized, “In an era where technological hegemony determines national competitiveness and security, utilizing patent data as a tool to quickly grasp the flow of technological changes in the international community and analyze the technological competitiveness of rival countries plays a very important role.” He added, “The Korean Intellectual Property Office will strengthen legal and institutional foundations so that patent data can be utilized across the government and support the industrial sector.”

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