The nation leads the world in the number of applications for screen sports patents with a staggering 58.4% share. Shown is pro golfer Yoo Hyun-ju on Feb. 27, 2021, practicing her swing at the inaugural Korea-China Network Screen Golf Showdown at Golfzon Tower Seoul in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Yoon Seungjin

The nation leads the world in the number of applications for screen sports patents and is seventh in copyrights for the third straight year according to the International Intellectual Property Index, showing the excellence of the domestic digital technology and copyright systems.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office on March 3 said the country was tops with 58.4% of global applications for such patents based on an analysis of the latter filed in the world's top five patent offices.

The number of such applications worldwide grew an annual average of 7.8% over the past two decades (2002-21), with Korea leading the way with 1,715. Second was the U.S. (17% or 500), followed by Japan (8.9% or 262), China (6.4% or 188) and Denmark (4.1% or 119).

Among filing trends by technology, peripheral devices like ball suppliers and swing mats dominated with 52.3% or 1,536 filings, followed by content (30% or 882) such as screen golf and baseball and sensing (11% or 324) including ball tracking and motion sensors.

Korea also ranked seventh in copyrights of the global index for the third consecutive year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on June 6.

Since 2013, the index is compiled annually targeting the world's top 55 economies, which account for 90% of global gross domestic product per the World Bank. Korea was seventh in copyrights for the third consecutive year, first in system efficiency for the second straight year and 11th in the overall rankings combining nine categories.

"We again confirmed the foundation for our content's entry into and success on the global market as being our government's continuous and multifaceted efforts in copyright protection policy," said Jung Hyang-mi, director-general of the ministry's Regional Culture Policy Bureau. "We will continue to faithfully play our role as a global copyright power."

scf2979@korea.kr