Patents up 29.2%, trademarks up 18.6% in first half of this year; individual filings soar 134%
Domestic patent and trademark filings broke all-time records in the first half of this year, driven by a sharp rise in applications from individuals and first-time filers.
The surge was not limited to the domestic market — Korean applicants also posted significant increases in patent filings at major intellectual property offices abroad.
Patent and trademark filings reach record highs amid expansion in computer-related applications
According to industrial property filing trends released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Thursday, domestic patent filings totaled 141,259 cases in the first half of 2026, while trademark filings reached 180,787 cases — both all-time highs. Compared with the same period last year (109,322 and 152,419 cases, respectively), patent filings rose 29.2 percent and trademark filings rose 18.6 percent.
By sector, strong performance in advanced industries such as semiconductors and AI translated into broader filings in the computer, software and information service fields. In patents, the share held by "computer programming, systems integration and management" — the top category with 20,503 filings — expanded from 10.5 percent in the first half of last year to 16.0 percent in the first half of this year. In trademarks, filings under "computer and science and technology services" (Class 42) reached 9,635 cases, up 64.2 percent from 5,867 cases in the same period last year.
Individual and first-time filers drive patent growth
Individual patent filings reached 33,819 cases in the first half of this year, up 134.0 percent from 14,454 cases in the same period last year, and individuals' share of total patent filings rose from 13.2 percent to 23.9 percent. Particularly notable was the jump in direct filings — those submitted without an agent — among individual applicants: 22,559 cases, with the share of direct filings among individual applications climbing sharply from 28.8 percent in the first half of 2023 to 66.7 percent in the first half of 2026. The office attributed the trend in part to the growing use of generative AI, which has lowered barriers to filing directly.
First-time filers — those submitting a patent application for the first time — also posted strong growth, with 25,726 cases, up 74.2 percent from 14,769 cases in the same period last year, far outpacing the overall patent filing growth rate of 29.2 percent. First-time filers' share of all applicants rose 4.7 percentage points to 36.9 percent from 32.2 percent. In trademarks, first-time filer applications reached 69,134 cases, up 31.8 percent from 52,446 cases a year earlier.
Korean applicants also post sharp increases at major overseas patent offices
Patents filed by Korean nationals at the five major intellectual property offices — collectively known as the IP5 — totaled 165,567 cases, up 30.1 percent from 127,247 cases in the same period last year. Filings rose across all major jurisdictions compared with a year earlier: up 10.4 percent in the United States, 14.9 percent in Europe, 14.8 percent in Japan and 1.8 percent in China. Growth at the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office and the Japan Patent Office was particularly pronounced, outpacing increases by applicants of other nationalities. The office said the trend reflects the continued expansion of Korean companies into overseas markets.
Jung Jae-hwan, director general of the intellectual property information bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said the first half of 2026 saw a significant increase in patent and trademark filings, with the applicant base broadening, particularly among individuals and first-time filers. "We will closely monitor filing trends and work to ensure that the increase in applications translates into the securing of high-quality intellectual property rights," he said.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
