1. Analysis of application statistics

According to the intellectual property statistics trends released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on October 11, 2023, the cumulative number of applications for patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks from January to September 2023 decreased by 0.5% from the same period last year to 396,789 applications. This is a decrease from the same period last year, but it is significantly lower than the gap in the number of applications from the previous year in May 2023, when the number of applications had decreased by 2.1% from the same period the previous year.

Examining individual intellectual property rights applications, patents were the only intellectual property rights to record an increase, with 164,856 applications filed, an increase of 3.0% from the same period last year. In contrast, 39,872 design applications, 190,094 trademark applications, and 2,017 utility model applications were filed, decreases of 3.2%, 2.6%, and 14.2%, respectively. While a decrease in the number of applications was confirmed in all categories other than patents, the increase in patent applications was relatively smaller than the decrease in design, trademark, and utility model applications, which decreased by 3.9%, 6.1%, and 16.7%, respectively, in May 2023. Therefore, it can be evaluated that the number of applications for other intellectual property rights has been relatively increasing since May 2023.

The number of patent and utility model examination requests decreased by 1.9% from the same period last year to 139,984 requests. This is a decrease of 2.3% from May 2023, but it is in contrast to the increase in the number of patent applications compared to last year.

2. Analysis of registration statistics

The number of intellectual property registrations increased, as in the previous quarter. The overall number of registrations increased by 11.5% from the same period last year to 270,005 registrations. Trademarks led the increase in the overall number of registrations, with 131,751 registrations, an increase of 35.3%. In contrast, patents, designs, and utility models decreased by 2.8% (99,758 registrations), 8.5% (37,527 registrations), and 14.3% (959 registrations), respectively. Excluding patents, which require a relatively long time to review and have a wide variation in the amount of time required for each review, it is expected that the continuous decrease in the number of applications for utility models and designs also had an impact on the number of registrations. In the case of trademarks, it is evaluated that the number of registrations increased as the trademarks filed during the COVID-19 period were reviewed.

3. Request for a trial

The number of requests for trials increased by 12.1% from the same period of the previous year to 5,674 cases. This is the same increase rate as the 12.1% increase rate recorded in May 2023. Among them, trademarks (2,960 cases) and patents (2,451 cases) still account for the absolute majority, and it was confirmed that the gap between the number of requests for trials for trademarks and patents has widened, which was about 100 cases or so.