S. Korea logs intellectual property surplus in 2023

SEOUL, March 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea logged intellectual property surplus in 2023 due to an increased copyright surplus, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Trade in intellectual property rights posted a record surplus of 180 million U.S. dollars last year, topping the previous high of 160 million dollars in 2021, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It rebounded from a deficit of 1.11 billion dollars in 2022 on the back of higher copyright surplus.

Surplus in trade of copyrights expanded to 2.21 billion dollars in 2023 from 1.74 billion dollars in the previous year.

Of the copyrights, surplus in culture and arts copyrights grew from 880 million dollars to a record high of 1.10 billion dollars in the cited period, with research and development and software copyrights surplus gaining from 860 million dollars to 1.11 billion dollars.

Deficit in trade of industrial property rights shrank to 1.86 billion dollars in 2023 from 2.62 billion dollars in the previous year.

Among industrial property rights, deficit in trade of patent and utility model rights slumped from 1.85 billion dollars in 2022 to 700 million dollars in 2023.

Trademark and franchise rights deficit climbed from 650 million dollars to 1.17 billion dollars in the cited period.

By industry, manufacturers tallied a surplus of 2.77 billion dollars in intellectual property rights trade, while the service sector registered a deficit of 2.71 billion dollars last year.