Patents

SOUTH KOREA

Global Competition For Carbon Nanotube Patent

Competitions for carbon nanotube technology that is highlighted as a future material has been increasingly fierce around the world. According to a report from KIPO, 'Patent trend of carbon nanotube', in a 13-year period from 1992 to 2004, a total of 3312 applications on the carbon nanotube technology were filed.

By country, the U.S. filed the largest number of the applications with 1259 cases (38%), followed by Japan with 1098 cases (33%), Korea with 676 cases (20%), and EU with 284 cases (8.6%). Samsung SDI filed 70 patent applications for the carbon nanotube technology in the U.S. and Samsung Electronics filed 24 applications there in the same period.

By technology field, photoelectric devices recorded the largest portion, with 49% of the total applications for the nanotube technology filed with the KIPO, followed by nano electronics with 18%, complex materials with 15%, energy with 14%, and mechatronics with 4%.