Lee International

According to “Key IP5 Statistics Indicators” published by the five largest intellectual property offices in the world (IP5), a total of 2.93 million patent applications were filed with the IP5 offices in 2022, which represents 1.4 % increase compared to 2021 and accounts for 85.1 % of the patent applications filed worldwide. By each of the IP5 offices, 1.62 million applications were filed with the CNIPA, which accounts for more than half (55.2 %) of the total; 0.59 million applications (20.3 %) were filed with the USPTO; 0.29 million applications (9.9 %) were filed with the JPO; 0.24 million applications (8.1 %) were filed with the KIPO; and 0.19 million applications (6.6 %) were filed with the EPO.

For applications filed with KIPO, there were 50,794 applications filed by foreign applicants in total for 2022, which is a 5.0 % increase compared to 2021. By origin, U.S. accounts for nearly one-third of the total with the number of 17,678 and it was followed by Japan (13,860 applications; 27 %), EPC states (12,936 applications; 25 %), and China (6,320 applications; 12 %). The foreign applications filed with the KIPO increased except for those originated in Japan. The increase rate of such applications by U.S. is 14 %, followed by the EPC states with 3.9 %, and China with 0.4 %.

There were 76,592 applications filed by Korean applicants to other countries in total for 2022, which is a 9.1 % increase compared to 2021. By country, 40,814 applications were filed with the USTPO, which account half of the total, and it was followed by the CNIPA (18,262 applications; 23.8 %), the EPO (10,367 applications; 13.5 %), the JPO (7,149 applications, 9.3%). The applications filed by Korean applicants increased in all the IP5 offices. The increase rate of such applications with the JPO is 20.4 %, followed by the EPO (10.4 %), the USTPO (9.7 %), and the CNIPA (3.2 %).

For applications filed by the IP5 applicants to their own country, the EPC states had the lowest proportion with 43.7% and China had the largest proportion with 94.8% among the IP5 countries. Compared to 2021, Korea, U.S., and Japan showed a decrease in the number of filings with their own offices. Meanwhile, filings by applicants of U.S. and the EPC states with the KIPO and the JPO grew the most and the increase rate of filings by Chinese applicants with the EPO showed the highest.

Details of the statistic can be found in “Key IP5 Statistical Indicators” provided on the website of IP5.

(Unit: Application)