Korea as of last year led the world in the number of declared standard essential patents reported to the world's top three standardization organizations. The Korean Intellectual Property Office attributed the result to Samsung Electronics' declaration in last year's second half of around 2,500 patents related to versatile video coding and essential video coding. Shown here is Samsung Group's headquarters in the office park Samsung Town in Seoul's Seocho-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Lee Jihye and Yoon Hee Young

Korea has the largest number of declared standard essential patents (SEP) reported to the world's top three standard-setting bodies.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on May 9 said that as of last year, the country's number of declared SEPs reported to the International Organization for Standardization, International Electrotechnical Commission and International Telecommunication Union was 3,344.

The figure accounted for 23.5% of the combined global total of 14,232 SEPs, more than six times what Korea reported in 2016 (519) to rank fifth.

The U.S. last year was second with 2,793 (19.6%), followed by Finland with 2,579 (18.1%), Japan 1,939 (13.6%) and France 1,283 (9%).

KIPO said in a statement, "The reason the number of declared SEPs surged was Samsung Electronics' intensive declaration of approximately 2,500 patents for versatile video coding and essential video coding in the second half of 2020."

Samsung reported 2,799 declared SEPs to the three authorities, the most by any company or organization in the world. Nokia of Finland came in second with 2,559 items, Thomson Licensing of France third with 907, Apple of the U.S. fourth with 350, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute fifth with 251.

An SEP is essential for producing and selling a product using standard technology including LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and MP3.

After a company declares an item a SEP to a standardization company, it is recognized as a legitimate SEP if confirmed through an essentiality check that judges consistency with an authority's standards.

Park Ho-hyoung, director-general of KIPO's Intellectual Property Policy Bureau, said, "Korea's rise in the ranks of declared SEPs over the past five years means the strengthening of the standard competitiveness of Korean companies. This is significant as the foundation for later improving the technological trade balance."

shaadiya1223@korea.kr