The number of patent applications by Koreans at home and abroad in the first half of this year rose at the world's top five intellectual property offices. (LG Electronics)

By Margareth Theresia

The number of patent applications by Koreans at home and abroad in the first half of this year increased at the world's five largest intellectual property offices, aka IP5.

The five are the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, Ministry of Intellectual Property (formerly the Korean Intellectual Patent Office) and National Intellectual Property Administration of China.

In a report released on Oct. 12 covering patent application trends in the first half of this year, the ministry said the number of applications worldwide filed in the first six months of the year reached 109,322, up 1.6% from 107,620 in the same period last year.

Among them, 83,815 were submitted by Koreans, up 1.6% from 82,472 year on year.

By nationality, those filed by people from the U.S. and Europe decreased but the number of Chinese and Japanese applicants rose.

Information and communications technology (ICT) showed impressive growth, with the number of applications related to areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing reaching 14,089, up 13.5%. Those in secondary batteries grew 5.4% to 5,672 led by leading domestic conglomerates such as LG, Samsung and SK.

The number of applications filed abroad by Koreans also rose, with those submitted in IP5 countries hitting 127,247, up 2.8% from 123,792 year on year. Koreans submitted 21,465 such applications in the U.S., nearly half (49.5%) of all filed abroad by Koreans, and those in Japan hit 4,607, up a record-high 18.2%.

"The rise in patent applications by Koreans is thanks to our corporations' dedication to technological development given the intensifying competition among leading countries in cutting-edge and core industries," said Jeong Jaehwan, director-general of the ministry's Intellectual Property Information Bureau.

"We will provide all support so that our companies can make leaps in innovation based on future industry patents such as AI and secondary batteries."

margareth@korea.kr