1. Application and registration trends of IPR in Korea

According to the data published by the KIPO, the total number of filed applications and registrations from January to November 2019 increased by about 6.3% and 6.9%, respectively, while the number of petitions for trials decreased by about 11.2%, when compared to those of the same period for the previous year (January to November 2018).

 

January to November, 2019	Total number of filings	total number of registrations	Number of requests for trials
Patents	193,170 (4.1% increase)	114,993 (5.4% increase)	3,631
Utility models	4,893 (2.0% decrease)	2,218 (10.9% decrease)	149
Designs	58,613 (2.5% increase)	47,868 (5.5% increase)	380
Trademarks	202,152 (10.2% increase)	115,383 (9.5% increase)	4,122
Total	458,828 (6.3% increase)	280,462 (6.9% increase)	8,282 (11.2% decrease)

 

While the overall statistics for 2019 including December have not been published yet, the current trends are expected to continue. In 2018, the number of filings and registrations decreased in utility model whereas the number of filings increased in the fields of patents, designs, and trademarks. Considering this, these current IPR trends are expected to continue next year.

 

2. Trends of patent applications in the field of customized health care

・Overall trend of patent applications

Due to the need to prepare for aging population and climate change and to obtain a new engine of economic growth, competition in the medical field has never been more intense. Nations such as China, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom already started to aggressively invest in the field of customized health care from several years ago.

The customized health care field can be largely divided into ‘medical diagnosis simulation or data mining,’ ‘treatment and processing of medical images,’ ‘treatment and processing of medical and health data of patients,’ ‘treatment methods or health promotion plans,’ ‘communication means between medical teams and patients,’ ‘production and transmission of medical reports,’ ‘treatment and processing of medical materials,’ ‘management and operation of medical facilities and equipment,’ and ‘medical applications using AI systems,’ and it is distinguished from other fields of biology by the fact that the customized health care relates directly or indirectly to performing or assisting with medical practices.

In Korea, pharmaceuticals (4,967 filing cases) and biotechnology (4,723 filing cases) in the field of biology both rapidly grew in 2018 compared to other fields, and the patents were mainly concentrated on pharmaceuticals and medical instruments. Since the current Korean Patent Act does not recognize patentability of any medical practice on a person, most patent applications are concentrated on pharmaceuticals and medical instruments so far rather than on direct medical services.

However, the Korean government has chosen the development of precise medical services and new concepts for medical instruments using big data and artificial intelligence as one of the top 13  innovative growth engines of the nation in 2017, and proposed a road map for research and development and practical businesses to be achieved by 2022.  Further, as it has become possible to protect as patented inventions the customized health care services that combine medical technology with technologies of the 4th industrial revolution such as artificial intelligence, big data, medical robots, dielectric technologies, etc., research and development activities in those fields are seen to have flourished.

While applications in the field of customized health care filed from 2008 to 2018 reached a total of almost 41,868 in the IP5 Patent Offices, only 1,028 applications in the field of customized health care were filed in Korean from 2008 to 2018, which only accounted for 2.5% of the entire IP5, and thus Korea is seen as a latecomer in the field.  However, when it comes to an average filing increase rate, while IP5 reached an annual average growth rate of 15.3%, Korea saw an annual average growth rate of 38.7%. Therefore, Korea has shown an active growth rate in terms of its increasing trend compared to any other country.

 

・Analysis of application trends

According to ‘Overview and Lessons of Patent Technologies in the Field of Customized Health Care of Korea’ published by the Korea Institute of Intellectual Property on November 22, 2019, when considering the fields of customized health care in detail, out of a total of 41,868 filings made to IP5, the largest proportion of the filings was made in the area of ‘medical diagnosis, simulation or data mining’ with 15,748 filings accounting for 37.6%, followed by, in the order of, ‘treatment and processing of medical and health data of patients’ (10,020 filings, 23.9%), ‘management and operation of medical facilities and equipment’ (5,937 filings, 14.2%), ‘treatment methods or health promotion plans (promotion plans (4,943 filings, 11.8%), ‘treatment and processing of medical images’ (2,142 filings, 5.1%), ‘production and transmission of medical reports’ (2,030, 4.8%), ‘communication means between medical teams and patients’ (745 filings, 1.8%), ‘treatment and processing of medical materials’ (282 filings, 0.7%) and ‘medical applications using AI systems’ (21 filings, 0.1%).

A rate at which applicants in foreign countries of IP5 entered Korea was under 1%, which is very low, with 79.2% of Korean patents being filed by Korean applicants. Among the patents filed by Korean applicants, institutional applicants only accounted for 31%, and universities and public organizations were seen to have a higher filing ratio (17.7%) than companies.