Patent Office: "Patent Applications Reach All-Time High... Led by Semiconductors and Secondary Batteries"

Trend Reversal in Industrial Property Rights Growth, 557,000 Applications Filed Last Year
Patent Applications in Semiconductors and Secondary Batteries Drive Increase in Industrial Property Rights
Companies' Intellectual Property Management Efforts Amid Global Technology Hegemony Competition
KIPO "Promoting Support Policies for Rapid Rights Acquisition by Companies"

Last year, the number of patent applications reached an all-time high, led by the semiconductor and secondary battery sectors.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 10th that 557,000 industrial property rights were filed last year, marking a shift to an upward trend compared to the previous year. Industrial property rights encompass patents, utility models, trademarks, and designs.

In terms of industrial property rights by type, patent applications increased by 2.4% year-on-year to 243,000 last year. Trademark applications decreased by 1.5% to 255,000, and design applications fell by 2.3% to 55,000. Patent applications appear to have supported the overall increase in industrial property rights filings.

Notably, domestic patent applications last year recorded an increase of over 2% despite the high-interest-rate environment caused by global inflation, marking a record high. This is encouraging compared to the slight increase of 0.03% in industrial property rights applications during the same period (556,000 in the previous year, a 6.1% decrease compared to 2021).

By applicant type, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (65,380 applications, up 3.8%), large corporations (48,391 applications, up 7.6%), and universities and public research institutes (31,441 applications, up 9.2%) showed increases, while foreign applicants (52,145 applications, down 3.2%) and domestic individuals (33,522 applications, down 4.0%) decreased.

By technology sector, patent applications in advanced industries such as semiconductors and secondary batteries stood out. Last year, semiconductors increased by 12.3%, electric machinery and energy including secondary batteries by 11.4%, and digital communications by 10.3%, all showing growth rates above 10%. Conversely, fields related to non-face-to-face (digitalization) technologies, such as e-commerce (down 6.0%) and audio-visual technology (down 6.6%), saw a decline in applications.

KIPO analyzes that the noticeable increase in patent applications in key domestic industries is the result of companies proactively engaging in intellectual property management as a strategy to secure supply chains in advanced industries like semiconductors and secondary batteries amid intensifying global technological hegemony competition.

Regarding domestic trademark applications last year, by applicant type, domestic individuals increased by 5.0% to 123,005 applications, while SMEs (77,710 applications, down 5.0%), foreign applicants (13,873 applications, down 2.2%), large corporations (11,126 applications, down 12.1%), and mid-sized companies (10,755 applications, down 7.0%) decreased.

By product classification, advertising (up 4.4%), food service (up 3.6%), and coffee, bread, and confectionery (up 5.3%) increased. This is interpreted as a result of more small business owners and individuals filing trademark applications due to startups and other reasons.

In the domestic design application status (by applicant type), large corporations (3,712 applications, up 2.1%), mid-sized companies (2,726 applications, up 17.2%), and foreign applicants (5,400 applications, up 4.4%) increased, while domestic individuals (22,566 applications, down 3.3%) and SMEs (19,558 applications, down 5.9%) decreased. [Attachment 1]

Lee In-su, Director of the Industrial Property Information Bureau at KIPO, said, “It is very encouraging that patent applications increased last year, centered on advanced industries such as semiconductors and secondary batteries, leading to an upward trend in industrial property rights applications. KIPO will continue to promote customized application support policies for each company to facilitate the rapid acquisition of rights by domestic companies.”

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