Application Trends for Intellectual Property Rights in 2023
The Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that as a result of analyzing statistics on applications for intellectual property rights such as patents in 2023, it found that the total number of applications for intellectual property rights reached 557,000, an upward turn compared to 2022. By type of intellectual property right, 243,000 applications for patents were filed, up 2.4% from the previous year; 255,000 trademarks were filed for, down 1.5% from the previous year; and 55,000 designs were filed for, down 2.3% from the previous year. Thanks to the increase in patent applications, the total number of intellectual property applications increased slightly (▲0.03) compared to 2022.
In 2023, patent applications in Korea increased 2.4% year-on-year, up to a record high of 243,000. By applicant type, small and medium-sized businesses (65,380 cases, ▲3.8), large-sized businesses (48,391 cases, ▲7.6), and universities/public institutions (31,441 cases, ▲9.2) increased, while filings by foreigners (52,145, ▼3.2) and domestic individuals (33,522 cases, ▼4.0) decreased.
By technology sector, applications centering around areas such as high-tech and major industries such as semiconductors (▲12.3), electric machinery/energy including secondary batteries (▲11.4), and digital communications (▲10.3) have increased, while e-commerce (▼6.0) and audio video technology (▼6.6), that are non-face-to-face (digitalization) related technologies which emerged during the COVID-19 situation, have decreased (based on a cumulative basis in the third quarter of 2023 because it took about three months from patent application to technology classification).
In 2023, trademark applications filed in Korea fell 1.5% year-on-year to 255,000, with those from domestic individuals (123,005, ▲5.0) increasing, while small and medium-sized businesses (77,710, ▼5.0), foreigners (13,873, ▼2.2), large companies (11,126, ▼12.1), and mid-sized companies (10,755, ▼7.0) saw decreases.
By product classification, the advertising industry (▲4.4), restaurant industry (▲3.6), and coffee/bread/snacks (▲5.3), etc. increased, which can be interpreted as the result of small business owners and individuals filing trademark applications along with their start-ups.
In 2023, design applications in Korea fell 2.3% year-on-year to 55,335, and by applicant type, design applications filed by large-sized businesses (3,712 cases, ▲2.1), mid-sized businesses (2,726 cases, ▲17.2) and foreigners (5,400 cases, ▲4.4) increased, while those filed by domestic individuals (22,566, ▼3.3) and small and medium-sized businesses (19,558 cases, ▼5.9) decreased.
[Source: KIPO]