Pacing 4th behind China, the U.S. and Japan
The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced on March 4 that South Korea applied for 20,060 international patents in 2020, coming in fourth behind China, the United States and Japan. The number doubled in nine years and exceeded 20,000 for the first time.
Last year, South Korea’s international patent applications showed a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent despite the global economic recession triggered by COVID-19. It ranked third in terms of the rate of increase behind China and Switzerland, which increased theirs by 16 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.
In 2020, the number of international patent applications totaled 275,900 worldwide, up 4 percent from a year ago. China applied for 68,720, up 16 percent, and topped the list for two years in a row. The difference between China and the United States as the runner-up increased from 1,694 to 9,490 last year. The numbers of Japan and Germany fell 4.1 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.
It is Huawei that showed the largest number of international patent applications as a corporation last year. It was followed by Mitsubishi, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.