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The number of applications for intellectual property (IP) rights in 2025 increased in all the areas of patents, trademarks and designs.(News Letter No. 577) |
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KH |
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2026-06-01 |
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3738 |
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1. The number of applications for intellectual property (IP) rights in 2025 increased in all the areas of patents, trademarks and designs.
-In the second half of 2025, the number of patent, trademark and design applications significantly increased by 9.3%, 7.3% and 4.1%, respectively.
-The new applicants’ activities of filing patent and trademark applications expanded by 18.5% and 9.2%, respectively.
The number of applications for IP rights filed in 2025 increased in all the areas of patents, trademarks and designs, compared to the previous year, showing full-fledged growth.
The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) analyzed the trends of IP applications filed in 2025 (which were conducted by Korea Institute of Intellectual Property). As a result, the number of IP applications increased in all the areas of patents, trademarks and designs, compared to the previous year, and, notably, the number of IP applications filed by companies and individuals which for the first time filed applications (hereinafter, referred to as ‘new applicants’) increased.
260,797 patent applications, 324,926 trademark applications and 60,935 design applications were filed in 2025, showing increases of 5.9%, 2.8% and 1.6%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Notably, since 151,475 patent applications, 172,511 trademark applications and 32,867 design applications were filed in the second half of 2025, showing increases of 9.3%, 7.3% and 4.1%, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year, the increase in the applications filed in 2025 is considered as having been largely driven by the increase of the applications filed in the second half of the year.
In addition, the numbers of patent applications and trademark applications filed in the second half of 2025 by new applicants were 23.735 and 68,759 with increases of 18.5% and 9.2%, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year, showing that the new applicants’ activities of filing applications in the patent and trademark areas were active.
2. The Presidential Council on Intellectual Property (PCIP) held an national IP strategy meeting (May 22, 2026).
PCIP (Co-persons: Prime Minister Minseok KIM, Private Expert Kwanghyung LEE) held a national IP strategy meeting in Seoul Garden Hotel (located in Seoul) at 14:30 on May 22, 2026.
As the ‘3rd national IP basic plan (2022~2026) ‘ will end this year, this meeting was arranged in a integrated format where an IP policy officer meeting, a launch ceremony of a special committee for the promotion of a global IP hub nation (GIPHUB) and a general meeting were conducted simultaneously, to share the ‘4th national IP basic plan policy direction’, which includes the national IP outlook and strategy for the next 5 years (2027~2031), with experts and the related ministries, and to discuss directions and key tasks for advancing as a world IP hub nation.
A total of 40 people attending this meeting included the PCIP Private Expert Kwanghyung LEE, the National Assembly members, Beomgye PARK, Jungjae KIM, Soojin CHOI and Jiho CHA (the GIPHUB Chair and Committee members), the GIPHUB private and government members, the IP policy officers of the related ministries, cities and provinces, etc. This meeting was conducted with the greetings from Kwanghyung LEE and the National Assembly members, the appointment ceremony for GIPHUB members, the commemorative photos, the presentation of 4 topics, and discussions by sector.
The topic presentation was provided in the following order: ►the ‘4th national IP basic plan policy direction (plan)’ by Hyukjun KIM, researcher, ► the ‘key tasks and directions to promote GIPHUB’ by Sungpil PARK, chair of Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), ►the ‘IP business transaction activation plan’ by Seoyong CHO, representative of RN2 Technologies, and► the ‘model to establish a new global dispute resolution ecosystem’ by Hyejin LEE, judge (researcher judge at IP division of the Supreme Court of Korea). After the presentation, discussions were held in two subcommittees.
[the ‘4th national IP basic plan policy direction (plan)’ by Hyukjun KIM, researcher of Korea Institute of Intellectual Property]
Research Hyukjun KIM presented the policy direction (plan) of the 4th national IP basic plan which was decided at the plenary session of the 39th meeting of the PCIP (March 20, 2026). The 4th national IP basic plan as the national IP strategy blueprint for the next 5 years (2027~2031) set a vision of ‘the Republic of Korea leaping with innovative ideas and intellectual properties’ and prepared the 20 key tasks focused on 5 major implementation strategies.
The major points of the 5 implementation strategies are: of ① realizing startup and commercialization of ideas and creations, ② establishing fair and strong IP protection systems, ③ securing a super gap in leading technologies, ④ strengthening balanced regional growth and global cooperation, and ⑤ making a comprehensive transformation of AI in the IP field. It presents a pan-governmental mid-to-long term detailed IP strategies to make intellectual property as the core engine to drive national innovative economy and balanced growth in the ear of the AI great transformation.
3. A meeting was prepared to share trade secret leakage prevention policies and discuss on the related law and system improvements.
- A meeting was held to strengthen Korean companies’ technology protection.
According to MOIP, an on-site communication meeting for trade secret and technology protection was held at MOIP’s Seoul office, with middle-market companies, small and medium companies, lawyers and others.
Due to the continuous outflow of Korean companies’ trade secrets and technologies overseas, this meeting was prepared to listen to voices from the fields and to seek effective response measures. Notably, since the companies responding to the ‘trade secret protection status survey’, which was conducted by MOIP last year, participated in this meeting, MOIP directly listened to their inconveniences and policy demands relating to the technology protection.
While the competition for international technological supremacy has intensified, technology leakage has a significant impact not only individual companies but also on overall national competitiveness. Furthermore, as the methods for leaking advanced technologies, such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, etc., overseas have been more sophisticated and advanced, continuous indications point out that companies’ own efforts have limits in responding thereto and therefore it is more urgent than ever for the government to take proactive response.
Based on the opinions collected at this meeting, MOIP plans to formulate policies that companies can truly feel and to prepare response measures to strengthen the system for Korean technology protection.
4. The Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) under MOIP held a ‘presentation on strategies for responding to US patent disputes’ for companies.
According to IPTAB under MOIP, a presentation on Korean companies’ strategies for responding to US patent disputes was held to strengthen Korean companies’ capabilities in responding to US patent disputes.
Recently, in the United States, the institutional environment is changing, such as the stricter requirements for trial initiation in patent invalidation trial (Inter Partes Review: IPR) procedures, and accordingly, the importance of Korean companies’ responses to patent infringement trials by overseas non-practicing entities (NPE: entities who generate profits by exercising patent rights without directly utilizing technology) is growing even further. This presentation was prepared to respond to these changes and to share effective response strategies focusing on companies’ actual cases and on-site experiences.
This event was available to all companies and IP professionals. Those that wanted to attend the event needed to apply in advance through the information patterns (QR code) on the information poster.
As the major content of the presentation included: ►the recent trends and response strategies in the US patent invalidation system, ►the flow and practical responses in US patent infringement trials, and ►the policy support plan for Korean companies to enter the US market, etc. Notably, the industry experts including LG Energy Solution, LG Electronics, SK Hynix, Hyundai Motor, etc. and the specialists with extensive experiences in overseas patent practice participated to present substantial response strategies. In addition, in the comprehensive discussion, the companies, patent attorneys and public institutions participated to have an in-depth discussion on Korean companies’ strategies to respond to US patent disputes and the policy support directions thereof.
The President of IPTAB said, “while the international patent dispute environment has been rapidly changed, the purpose of this presentation is to provide practical strategy-focused information so that Korean companies can respond preemptively…We look forward to the great interest and participation of companies and experts.”
5. The activities of new applicants has increases in relation to K-beauty, venture and startup activities.
In the trademark area, in accordance with the growth of the K-beauty industry, the number of applications filed by new applicants related to cosmetics (Class 03: cleansers and cosmetic product preparations) has recorded the highest increase rate (+41.3%) in 2025. Notably, the number of these trademark applications has increased mainly among small and medium companies, individuals and foreigners, and this is analyzed to be related to the important role of indie brands (which are independently operated brands without belonging to big companies or large distribution networks) in the K-beauty export growth. As for foreigners, as the domestic K-beauty market leads international trends, they are considered to strategically enter the domestic K-beauty market.
In the patent area, the proportion of new applicants has increased in 2025, focused on the fields where startups and venture investments are active, such as e-commerce (49.0%, +2.6% compared to the previous year), games (45.6%, +0.7%), medical treatment (38.6%, +5.5%), etc. The proportion of patent applications filed by new applicants decreased until 2024 and then reversed to a growth trend in 2025 (14.7%, +0.7% compared to the previous year). This is analyzed to be related to the recent startup and investment trends, such as an increase in the number of technology-based startups (221,063 startups, +2.9% compared to the previous year), an expansion of the proportion of technology-based startups among all startups (19.5%, +1.3%), an increase in venture capital investment (13.6 trillion Korea Won, +14.0%), etc.
6. Easing of economic policy uncertainty influences trademark and design applications.
MOIP conducted an analysis of the impact of economic uncertainty on intellectual property applications, by using the economic policy uncertainty index (EPU Index), to look into the reasons of the increase in the number of applications in the second half of 2025.
As a result of the analysis, as the EPU index, which rose in the first half of 2025, declined in the second half, Korean people’s activity of filing trademark and design applications, which slowed in the first half, began to recover. This aligns with the improving trend seen in the venture and startup-related indicators in the second half of 2025.
In addition, changes in the EPU index are analyzed to lead the activity of filing trademark and design applications by about 2 months. This suggests that easing economic uncertainty influences companies’ and individuals’ intentions of entering the market, thereby resulting in an increase in the number of trademark and design application in the future. But, in the patent area, statistical significance with the EPU index was not confirmed.
MOIP expects the number of intellectual property applications using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to gradually increase and it also plans to prepare measures by thoroughly reviewing and analyzing the possibility of a decline in statistical reliability, a delay in administrative procedures, an increase in examination burden, etc. In the process of using a generative AI, it is not recognized as an inventor by simply presenting an idea and filing the resulting work as it is.
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