Last year, Korea was ranked the fifth in PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) International Applications for the fourth year in a row. Korea’s share in the PCT applications was similar to that of the year before.
Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP) announced on the 25th that, in the PCT International Applications of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a subsidiary organization of the United Nations (U.N.), Korea was ranked the fifth by applying for 12,386 patents in 2013.
By Country, U.S. is ranked the first with 57,239 patent applications (27.9%) and Japan is on the second place with 43,918 applications (21.4%). China, which was ranked the fourth in 2012, rose to the third place by defeating Germany. It applied for 21,516 applications, which increased by 15.6% from the year before. Having climbed to the fourth place in 2010 by defeating Korea, China continued to display a rapid growth. On the other hand, Germany applied for 17,927 patents in 2013. Germany’s patent application count dropped for two years in a row.
The total number of PCT applications in 2013 was 205,300. Korea’s share is 6.0%, which decreased slightly from 6.1% in the previous year. Despite a continuous increase in the number of patent applications, Korea’s share has not changed drastically. As for China, its share has been increasing continuously, and thus the country recorded a two-digit share (10.5%) for the first time.
As for the application entity, businesses represent the largest share of 71.2% followed by individuals by 14.3%, universities by 9.1% and government and research institutes by 5.5%.
By company, Panasonic has made the largest number of patent applications (2,839 applications). It was followed by ZTE with 2,309, Huawei with 2,110, Qualcomm with 2,050 and Intel with 1,871. From Korea, LG Electronics with 1,198 patent applications and Samsung Electronics with 1,178 are ranked in the 13th and the 15th places respectively.
The world’s top ten companies for patent application include three Japanese companies, two each from the U.S. and China and one each from Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
As for universities in Korea, KAIST is ranked in the seventh place, the highest in Korea, with 104 patent applications. In addition, POSTECH and Seoul National University are in the 12th and the 13th places respectively with 83 and 80 applications. Of research institutes in Korea, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has applied for 87 patents, and thus is ranked the 11th among global research institutes.
Kwon Geon-ho | wingh1@etnews.com