Korean domestic companies take up 91 percent of the top 100 Korean trademark registrations

-18 companies in cosmetics, 15 in pharmaceuticals, and 12 in baked products as well as clothing and shoes-

KIPO analyzed the top 100 holders of trademark rights over the past five years. The analysis included 91 domestic companies, 7 foreign companies, and 2 domestic individuals. The results showed that while trademark registrations by domestic companies (77) largely increased compared to five years earlier, those by foreign companies (19) and domestic individuals (4) dropped.

Of the registration by residents of foreign countries, the United States led the results followed by Japan, Germany, France and China. Except for France, whose main products were cosmetics, the rest mainly had products in electricity and electronics.

An analysis of the top 100 holders of trademark rights for products for five years from 2006 to 2010, except for the service mark, showed that the rights holders with the most registered trademarks (over 1,000 trademarks) were Amore Pacific (3,608), followed by LG Household and Health Care (1,953), LG Electronics (1,896), Orion (1,392), and Lotte Confectionery (1,215). Among foreign companies, Japan’s Sanrio topped the list (422), followed by Johnson & Johnson of the United States (337) and Unilever of the Netherlands (314).

Of the 234,000 trademarks registered in the last five years, registrations by the top 100 companies and individuals amounted to 36,000, taking up 15 percent of the total.

Among top trademark rights holders, The Face Shop took up 99 percent of registrations in the field of cosmetics, Lotte Confectionery took up 90 percent in baked goods, followed by Coreana Cosmetics with 91 percent, LG Household and Health Care with 79 percent, and Amore Pacific with 77 percent in cosmetics.

Among the top 100 trademark rights holders in the field of registrations, 18 companies were in the field of cosmetics and detergents; followed by 15 companies in pharmaceutical and medical products; 12 companies in baked goods, shoes and clothing products; and 9 companies in electricity and electronics.

Given the current trend of trademark registrations, a KIPO officer explained that many companies look to diversify their business, but they still focus on their main products and pursue specialization of their main products.

-by KIPO

<Appendix>

State of top trademark registrations by companies’ main products

 and registration field

1.          State of top trademark registrations by companies’ main products

(as of January 2006 ~ December 2010)

Applicants	Number of registrations	Main products	Number of registrations for their main product	Share of main product (%)
Amore Pacific	3,608	Cosmetics, detergents	2,787	77.2
LG Household and Health Care	1,953	Cosmetics, detergents	1,539	78.8
LG Electronics	1,896	Electricity, electronics, communication	984	51.9
Orion	1,392	Cookies, grains	932	67.0
Lotte Confectionery	1,215	Cookies, grains	1,090	89.7
Nongshim	743	Cookies, grains	567	76.3
Dong-A Pharm.	661	Pharmaceutical and medical equipment	455	67.8
Samsung Electronics	602	Electricity, electronics, communication	406	67.4
The Face Shop	592	Cosmetics, detergents	586	99.0
Haitai Confectionery	559	Cookies, grains	323	57.8
Coreanan Cosmetics	540	Cosmetics, detergents	492	91.1
Pacific	437	Cosmetics, detergents	333	76.2
Lotte Samkang	436	Cookies, grains	315	72.2
Boryung Pharm.	333	Pharmaceutical and medical equipment	212	63.7
Il-Yang Pharm.	307	Pharmaceutical and medical equipment	254	82.7

 ※ Of the top 100 holders of trademark rights, the share of main products amounted to over 50 percent for which companies had over 300 trademark registrations

2.          State of registration of companies with top trademark registrations by field

(as of January 2006 ~ December 2010)

Rank	Product type	Number of top companies	Number of companies with over 50 percent registration for their main products	Comment
1	Cosmetics, detergents	18 (15)	12 (10)	( ) is the number of companies five years earlier
2	Pharmaceutical and medical equipment	15 (13)	11 (10)
3	Baked goods, grains	12 (16)	6 (7)
4	Clothes, shoes	12 (11)	1 (2)
5	Electricity, electronics and communication	9 (13)	2 (3)
6	Other	34 (32)	4 (5)
Total		100	36 (37)