Source: KIPO
Date: 2011. 11. 23

□ Application Trends

Applications for IP rights during the third quarter of 2011 reached 91,033, a 10.1 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year.
- By type of rights, patents increased by 8.5 percent and trademarks by 21.4 percent, while designs decreased by 2.2 percent.
※ Utility models are continuing to decrease due to the pre-registration system and discontinuation of the dual application system (▽ 9.8 percent).

By nationality, Korean and foreign applicants increased by 10.0 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively.
- In the case of patents, Korean and foreign applicants increased by 7.7 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively.
- By region, Ulsan recorded the highest rate of increase at 35.6 percent followed by Chungcheongnamdo at 33.7 percent.
- By country, China increased by 73.2 percent and Sweden by 37.7 percent.

By applicant, conglomerates and SMEs increased by 8.4 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively, and Korean and foreign individuals increased by 17.3 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively.
- Applicants with a significant rate of increase in the third quarter were POSCO in the case of utility models, Bang Bang Apparel and Woongjin Coway in trademarks, and Space Talk in designs.

□ Registration Trends

The total number of IPR registrations in the third quarter of 2011 reached 54,413, an increase of 32.8 percent year-on-year.
- By type of rights, patents increased by 34.9 percent, utility models by 42.4 percent, trademarks by 34.2 percent, and designs by 25.2 percent.

By nationality, Korean applicants recorded a 34.6 percent increase and foreigner applicants recorded a 25.5 percent increase.
- By region, Gyeongsangnamdo recorded the highest rate of increase at 65.3 percent followed by Jeju at 49.2 percent.
- By country, Sweden increased by 17.9 percent and Japan by 13.8 percent.

By IP rights holders, conglomerates increased by 35.2 percent, SMEs by 38.9 percent, public companies by 121.3 percent and universities by 68.2 percent.
- IP rights holders with the most striking rate of increase in the third quarter were LG Innotek and Samsung Electro-Mechanics in the area of utility models, SK in trademarks, and LG Innotek in designs.

□ Examination and Trial Trends

The number of requests for examination reached 37,016, an increase of 3.4 percent year-on-year.
- Requests for patent examination totaled 34,467, a 5.1 percent increase year-on-year, while utility models decreased by 15.6 percent with 2,549 cases.
- Requests for PCT international searches reached 6,483, a 9.8 percent increase year-on-year, and the number of processed international searches totaled 6,216 cases, recording a 21.1 percent increase.

The number of requests for trials reached 3,785, an increase of 10.6 percent , and the number of processed trials amounted to 3,573, a 1.6 percent increase year-on-year.
- By type of rights, the number of requests for patents and utility models increased by 10.5 percent with 2,641 cases and trademarks by 18.5 percent with 1,005 cases. On the other hand, designs dropped by 24.9 percent with 139 cases as compared to the previous year.

* This trend data is based on intellectual property rights statistics collected from the third quarter of 2011 up to October 2, 2011 (based on pending date and tentative value).
- Actual values may differ from statistics of the time of calculation due to reasons such as withdrawals and waivers.
* Only new trademark applications have been summed up.
* The rate of increase is based on the same period of the previous year.