Trends in Intellectual Property Statistics in 2023 - Decrease in the number of applications compared to the previous year, with a slight increase in the number of registrations

According to the trends in Intellectual Property Statistics announced by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) in June 2023, the accumulative number of patent, utility model, design, and trademark applications amounted to 214,976, which was a 2.1% decrease compared to the same period last year. The month of May 2023 also showed a 2.7% decrease compared to the same month of the previous year.

Among these, while patents numbered 88,994, which was a 3.7% increase compared to the same period of the previous year, designs had a decrease of 3.9% with 21,522 applications, trademarks decreased by 6.1% with 103,344 applications and utility models experienced a significant decrease of 16.7% with 1,116 applications. The number of examination requests was recorded as a 2.3% decrease with 75,246 requests compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of intellectual property registrations showed an increase of 10.8% with a total of 149,625 registrations compared to the same period last year. Trademark registrations accounted for the majority, with a 30.6% increase to 76,670, however patents decreased by 3.8% to 54,775 registrations, utility models decreased by 9.3% to 578 registrations, and designs decreased by 1.4% to 21,602 registrations. The number of examination requests was recorded as 3,306 requests, which was a 12.1% increase compared to the same period last year, with trademarks (1,645) and patents (1,512) being the majority.