Filing and Registration Statistics
According to the December 2025 IP statistics trend report released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the cumulative number of applications across patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks filed from January through December 2025 totaled 582,005, representing a 3.8% year-on-year increase compared to the same period of the previous year. This indicates that the decline observed in the first half of the year clearly shifted into a recovery trend in the second half. In particular, applications filed in December alone surged 12.6% year-on-year to 63,847, highlighting a pronounced year-end filing concentration.
Breaking down annual cumulative filings by IP right, utility model applications posted the highest growth rate, up 7.9% (2,634) year-on-year. Patent applications increased 5.9% (260,797), trademark applications rose 2.3% (261,943), and design applications grew 1.3% (56,631)—showing broadly-based growth across all rights categories.
Registration volumes also maintained a strong upward trajectory. The cumulative number of registrations in 2025 reached 386,347, a 15.7% year-on-year increase. By right, patent registrations rose 22.2% (156,149)—continuing to drive the largest growth since the first half of the year—while trademark registrations increased 14.5% (180,994), utility model registrations rose 14.4% (1,200), and design registrations increased 2.2% (48,004).
Trends in Requests for Examination and Cause Analysis
The cumulative number of requests for examination for patents and utility models also increased, up 4.0% year-on-year to 209,561. December-only examination requests rose 13.4% year-on-year, reflecting strong intent to actively pursue rights acquisition.
This trend is interpreted as the combined result of (i) concerns about an economic slowdown noted in the first-half analysis easing in the second half, and (ii) renewed momentum in corporate R&D activity and brand-building efforts. In particular, the annual turnaround in filing volumes (first-half decline → full-year increase), together with the 15%+ surge in registrations, appears to reflect a convergence of KIPO’s efforts to improve examination processing efficiency and applicants’ more proactive IP-rights securing strategies.
Trial/Appeal Petitions
For trial/appeal petitions, the annual cumulative total fell 5.0% year-on-year to 6,501, indicating that the overall downward trend persisted on a full-year basis.
However, a notable shift emerges in the detailed trend. While the cumulative figure declined, December-only trial/appeal petitions increased 13.7% year-on-year to 598. This suggests that the decline that persisted throughout the first half suggests a potential trend reversal toward year-end, with a potential rebound.
On an annual cumulative basis, patent trials (2,064) and trademark trials (4,048) still account for the majority of all proceedings. As discussed in the first-half analysis, factors such as the stabilization of the Positive Examination system and strengthened dispute-prevention efforts may have contributed to the overall reduction in trial volumes. That said, continued monitoring will be needed to determine whether the year-end increase in filings will carry over into 2026.