According to Yonhap News,

(DAEJEON=Yonhap News) Despite the global economic contraction due to the COVID-19 outbreak, patent applications in Korea have been on the rise, led by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

According to the analysis on the trends of domestic patent applications and the reasons for increase/decrease by the Korea Institute of Intellectual Property (KIIP), the number of patent applications and their qualities have significantly improved over the past 20 years since 1999.

The average annual growth rate of patent applications in Korea over the past 20 years was 5.0%, the second highest, following China, among the world's five largest patent offices including that of Korea, China, Japan, the United States, and Europe.

In line with the increase in the number of applications filed, the indicators representing patent quality, including patent lifespan and participation in international joint research, have continued to improve.

In the past, the proportion of applications filed by large corporations was overwhelmingly high. However, since the mid-2010s, SMEs have overtaken the number of applications filed by large corporations, and have led the increase in patent applications until recently.

SME patent applications rose at an average annual rate of 5.9% in the past five years (2016-2020), far exceeding those of large corporations (0.4%), universities and public research institutes (0.2% decrease), and individuals (2.5%).

Indeed, patent applications by SMEs surged 13.1% from the previous year, despite the unfavorable market environment due to the spread of COVID-19 last year.

The patent lifespan index of SMEs also increased the most (27.3 percentage points jump from 1999), recording the second highest increase after universities and research institutes.

It seems to indicate that increasingly more profitable patents above patent maintenance costs have been filed.

yej@yna.co.kr

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Source: Yonhap News (November 1, 2021)