Giving Not Getting
The Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Bank of Korea announced on May 12 that the amount of intellectual property transactions that Korea was engaged in last year totaled US$23.54 billion, with the deficit in intellectual property trade amounting to US$6.17 billion.
Korea has recorded an intellectual property trade deficit since 2010. However, the size of the deficit has decreased during the period, starting from US$10.34 billion in 2010. Between 2013 and 2014, the deficit declined by US$1.99 billion. The red figures regarding copyrights was reduced from US$2.81 billion to US$1.21 billion between the two years, to result in overall improvement. The deficit relating to the copyrights of music and videos went down from US$3.42 billion to US$2.17 billion, while the surplus relating to those of the R&D products and software, including games, increased by US$220 million to US$1.05 billion.
[[{"fid":"11448","view_mode":"body_image_right","fields":{"format":"body_image_right","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The trade balance of intellectual property rights is still negative, but decreasing.","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"The trade balance of intellectual property rights is still negative, but decreasing.","height":390,"width":550,"class":"media-element file-body-image-right"},"link_text":null}]]The deficit added up to US$3.4 billion with regard to patents and utility models and US$860 million for trademark rights. Meanwhile, a surplus of US$710 million was achieved with computer program copyrights. The surplus has mounted since 2011.
Small and mid-size companies showed a US$990 million intellectual property trade surplus, which was equivalent to 11 times the amount recorded in 2010. On the contrary, larger corporations remained in the red by posting a US$4.26 billion deficit.
The red-ink figure was at US$4.6 billion in the electrical and electronics product manufacturing sector. The amount is equal to 1.9 percent of the combined annual sales of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics for 2014. However, the auto manufacturing sector and the group covering publishing, visual entertainment, broadcasting communications, and information services posted a surplus of US$800 million and US$440 million, respectively.
The deficit against the United States reached US$5.95 billion last year due to the high dependence in the fields of patents and trademarks, followed by those against Sweden (US$970 million), Britain (US$720 million), and Japan (US$280 million). Meanwhile, Korea recorded a surplus of US$2.23 billion in its intellectual property trade with China, more than doubling the amount in four years.