1. Which companies are the owners of the largest number of Korean patents and trademarks?
- KIPO published the owners of the largest number of registered patents and trademarks.
- The owner of the largest number of patents was Samsung Electronics and the owner of the largest number of trademarks was Amorepacific Corporation.
- 3 millionth patent is expected to be registered in 2027 and 3 millionth registered trademark in 2029.
In South Korea, it turns out that the owner of the largest number of patents was Samsung Electronics and the owner of the largest number of trademarks was Amorepacific Corporation.
Celebrating the 80th anniversary of liberation and the 60th anniversary of invention day, KIPO searched the owner of the largest number of each of registered patents and trademarks, which has led South Korea’s industrial development and technological innovation. As a result, it turns out that the owner of the largest number of patents was Samsung Electronics (134,802 cases) and the owner of the largest number of trademarks was Amorepacific Corporation (16,514 cases).
The patent by a first Korean is a patent of a horsehair hat which was registered by Inho JEONG, a person of independence in 1909. Inho JEONG supported the independence movement with the sales revenue earned by using this patent. After liberation, the ‘method of manufacturing emulsion dye (1948)’ of the central industrial research institute (currently, Korea Agency for Technology and Standards) was registered as a first patent. After that, a total of 2,705,171 patents were registered by the end of last year. It is expected that a total of 3 million patents in 2027 will be registered.
Upon looking at the patents registered so far, Samsung Electronics registering 134,802 patents, which was 5.0% of the total of the patents, took 1st place in the number of registered patents. Samsung Electronics entering the electronics business in 1969 has been recognized as one of the world’s leading innovative companies in the cutting-edge technology fields, such as semiconductors, mobile communication devices, etc. The number of the patents registered during the past year was 5,255.
LG Electronics taking 2nd place registered 77,802 patents which were 2.9% of the total of registered patents. LG Electronics which for the first time developed a domestic radio in 1959 has lead technology development in the smart home appliance sector, etc. The number of the patents registered during the past year was 2,424.
Hyundai Motor taking 3rd place registered a total of 54,305 patents so far, which was 2.0% of the total of registered patents. Since its establishment in 1967, Hyundai Motor has grown into one of the world’s leading automobile manufactures (makers) through continuous technological development.
4th place was SK Hynix, which is attracting attention as HBM (high bandwidth memory) which is a base technology for AI technology implementation. SK Hynix registered a total of 39,071 patents. LG Display which has led the global market with the OLED and QD (quantum dot) display technologies registered a total of 28,544 patents.
Since the trademark name, “天” (Cheon), of Cheonil Industry was registered the 1st trademark in 1949, a total of 2,741,047 trademarks were registered by the end of last year. 3 million patents are expected to be regostered in 2029.
1st place in the owner of the largest number of registered trademarks was Amorepacific Corporation, which started as Pacific Cemical Industry in 1945, registered a total of 16,514 trademarks. This company holds trademarks in a variety of cosmetics, such as Sulwhasoo, HERA, etc.
2nd place was LG Life & Health, a cosmetic company, which registered a total of 15,969 trademarks. LG Life & Health holds the trademarks related to cosmetics, such as THE WHOO, etc. and the trademarks related to daily necessitieis, such as PERIOE, etc.
3rd place was Amorepacific group registering 9,357 trademarks and 4th place was CJ Corporation, which has built strong brands in the food and entertainment industries, registered a total of 9,317 trademarks. 5th place was LOTTE Corporation registering 9,272 trademarks.
The results of Korean companies and individuals actively working and developing innovative technologies and protecting creative ideas in the intellectual property area, today South Korea was ranked 4th in the number of the world’s patent applications and ranked 1st in the number of the world’s patent applications compared to gross domestic product (GDP). As a result, KIPO became one of the top five patent powerful countries, together with EPO, JPO, CNIPA and USPTO.
The commissioner of KIPO said, “we expect this announcement to go beyond mere records and to be an opportunity to shed light on the process of achieving Korean industrial development and economic growth…we will support Korean companies to overcome the crisis and lead technological innovation based on intellectual properties even amidst the unstable domestic and international environment this year.”
2. KIPO published a result of analyzing data of about 2,300,000 trademark applications accumulated over the last 10 years.
- The number of trademark applications for professional services filed over 10 years by big companies increased and the number of trademark applications for wholesale and retail trade by small and medium companies increased.
- Big data can be also used as an indicator of economic fluctuations and so KIPO will promote future business cooperation with industrial indicator agencies.
On May 6, 2024, KIPO announced that it analyzed trademark application flows by industry, changes in major and core industries, relationship between trademarks and economic fluctuations, and characteristics of industries by applicant, etc. based on trademark big data over the last 10 years (2015~2024), so as to be used by companies.
KIPO analyzed trends in trademark applications and proportion changes by industrial sector, based on the trademark application data of about 2,300,000 cases accumulated over the last 10 years.
The manufacturing sector had the most trademark applications, about 1,250,000 cases. The information communication-related industry, such as communication service/content/game, etc. had about 460,000 cases, the wholesale and retail trade industry of distribution and sales had about 400,000 cases. In the manufacturing industry, there were a remarkable number of trademark applications in fields closely related to our daily lives, such as foodstuffs.
The increase rate of trademark applications was from 13.7% to 20.6 in the wholesale and retail trade industry and from 17.4% to 19.9% in the information communication industry. However, the number of the trademark applications in the manufacturing industry, such as cosmetics, etc., decreased from 55.1% to 52.2%. This is considered as indicating that the industrial structure of Korean economy is changing to focus on the service industry from the manufacturing industry and the filing of trademark applications is affected by these changes in industrial structure.
▲ The number of trademark applications, which were filed by big companies over the last 10 years, increased by an annual average of 3.2% in the IP-based high value-added professional service field, such as research and development and information analysis, and 2.8% in the information communication field.
▲ The number of trademark applications, which were filed by small and medium companies including small business owners, increased the most with an annual average of 8.4% over the last 10 years, in the wholesale and retail trade field as non-face-to-face consumption spread and online distribution was active.
Analyzing the chronological relationship between trademark applications and economic fluctuations by industry, based on Business Survey Index (BSI) published by Bank of Korea, showed the following: ▲ the trademark applications in the manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail trade industry and professional service industry showed characteristics as coincident indicator lagging indicator. Compared to, ▲ the trademark applications in the construction industry and transportation and warehouse industry showed a leading indicator so it appears to forecast the future of business. This suggests that the trademark application data can be used as an objective statistical indicator to monitor and predict industry and economy.
Since 2023, KIPO has conducted the ‘trademark big data analysis project’ to discover promising market areas and to support corporate business strategy development by introducing a big data analysis from an industrial perspective to the trademark information. KIPO will carry forward business cooperation with industrial indicator agencies so that trademark information can be used as one of the economic indicators.
In addition, KIPO will visit each industry association and organization on site every month, based on these analysis results, to explain the trademark systems and trademark business strategies by industry and to listen to the voices from the field.
3. An amendment bill to the Unfair Competition Prevention Act including a reward system for reporting a leakage of a trade secret overseas has passed the National Assembly plenary session.
- A reward system is introduced to detect a leakage of a trade secret overseas.
The reward system to early detect a leakage of a trade secret overseas is introduced in the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
KIPO announced that the amendment bill to the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (hereinafter, referred to the ‘Unfair Competition Prevention Act’) passed the National Assembly plenary session on May 1, 2025, in which the commissioner of KIPO can give a reward to one that has contributed greatly to preventing a trade secret leak overseas or one that has reported a trade secret leak overseas.
As the competition for technology supremacy between countries has recently intensified, attempts to leak technology of a Korean company’s core technology have continued to occur.
In response to this, since the ‘technology police’, a professional investigative organization of technology leaking crime, such as patent infringement, trade secret infringement, etc., was launched in 2019, KIPO has investigated a number of trade secret leak cases and achieved success in blocking overseas leakages of semiconductor as a national core technology, thereby making every effort to prevent Korean technology leaks overseas.
Once a trade secret, such as cutting-edge technology, leaks overseas, it is very hard to recover it. Therefore, it is most important to prevent such crimes early. In this regard, the significance of the amendment bill lies in providing incentives for reporting to prevent trade secret leaks overseas and to detect crimes early, thereby minimizing damages. Specific amounts of rewards and payment requirements are planned to be specified in subordinate statues in accordance with the future enforcement date of the law.
4. The KIPO’s commissioner and WIPO’s director general held a meeting.
- The two signed an MOU to cooperate in promoting a pilot project of global identification (ID).
- A K-identification management system spreads around the world.
The commissioner of KIPO had a meeting with Daren Tang, director general of WIPO in WIPO headquarter (located Geneva) and signed MOU focusing on cooperation to promote a pilot project to build a global identification (ID) system.
Among the IP5, only KIPO has introduced a patent client number (identification) to eliminate the hassle of having to enter basic information, such as an applicant name, address, etc., when filing a patent application, thereby effectively managing the information related to all applicants’ applications and registrations.
By signing this MOU, KIPO’s experience and methods are expected to be widely disseminated through WIPO as WIPO develops a global identification system applicable to various countries and areas. In future, when WIPO introduces the global identification system, Korean companies entering overseas markets are able to save time and cost in the process of the WIPO service, such as PCT, etc.
In the bilateral meeting, they discussed the major current issues as follows: the Korean companies’ trends in PCT patent, Madrid trademark and Hague design international applications, the improvement of patent examination support services by using AI technology, the joint projects to strengthen the intellectual property capacity of developing countries by utilizing the Korea Trust Fund, and Korean people’s advance to senior level of WIPO, etc. Notably, Daren Tang, director general of WIPO, valued KIPO’s experiences and secrets on the intellectual property valuation, financing and commercialization that have been recently gaining worldwide attention and he also emphasized the need to carry forward a KIPO-WIPO joint project to spread the KIPO’s experiences and methods.
The commissioner of KIPO said, “KIPO’s intellectual property administrative system to enhance the convenience of applicants has been internationally recognized by signing this MOU… to raise South Korea’s status in international organizations, we plans to puruse various cooperation projects with WIPO, not only cooperation in information but also commercialization of intellectual property, etc.”
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