Applications and Registration Statistics
According to the intellectual property statistic trends announced by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on July 8, 2025, the total number of cumulative applications for patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks from January to June 2025 was 258,401, representing a 1.2% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year.
A breakdown by individual intellectual property rights shows that patent applications increased by 1.6% year-on-year (109,322 cases), design applications decreased by 1.8% (26,006 cases), trademark applications decreased by 3.5% (121,878 cases), and utility model applications increased by 1.9% (1,195 cases). Although the total number of applications for all intellectual property rights slightly declined compared to the same period last year, this represents a notable turnaround. As of May, cumulative applications for patents, designs, utility models, and trademarks had all shown a downward trend. However, in June of 2025 alone, approximately 20,000 trademark applications and 250 utility model applications were filed, leading to a year-on-year increase for those categories. While design and trademark applications remain lower than the same period last year, the decline has narrowed significantly from a 3.0% decrease for designs and a 4.4% decrease for trademarks as of May, to the current levels indicating a rapid recovery in application volume. If this trend continues, the total number of intellectual property applications is expected to surpass last year’s total by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the number of registrations increased by 13.9% compared to the same period last year. Among them, patents showed the largest growth with a 30.9% increase (77,660 cases), followed by designs with a 3.3% increase (23,365 cases), trademarks with a 4.2% increase (83,118 cases), and utility models with a 21.9% increase (617 cases).
Requests for examination of patents and utility models totaled 91,154, marking a 0.3% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
This phenomenon can be understood as a rebound in application numbers that, as anticipated in our previous newsletter, has returned to an upward trend after the pandemic period, and is now being reflected in the number of registrations. In addition, KIPO’s continuous efforts to shorten examination processing times also appear to have had a significant impact.
While the number of filings and examination requests has shown some recent adjustment, the number of registrations continues to grow. This demonstrates that the Korean patent system remains actively utilized, which is a positive sign. It will be important to continue monitoring how these trends develop over time.
Request for Trial
The number of trial requests filed was recorded at 3,339 cases, representing a 6.7% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. This marks a significant decline even compared to 2024, which had already seen a 7.6% drop from the same period in 2023. As a result, the number of trial requests, which had temporarily surged by 15.3% in 2023, has now declined over two consecutive years, returning to levels similar to, or even lower than, those prior to 2023.
Various factors may have contributed to the downward trend in trial requests, but the primary driver appears to be a decrease in patent-related trials. In the case of inter partes trials (e.g., the patent right scope declaration trial), the overall decline in domestic patent disputes seems to have played a significant role. For ex parte trials (e.g., trials against a decision of rejection), the implementation of a positive examination system, leading to higher registration rates, along with the broader use of the divisional applications are likely to have contributed to the decrease in trial requests.