South Korea's trade deficit of intellectual property rights almost quadrupled last year compared to the previous year on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. Deficit in the intellectual property trade came in at 1.87 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, up from a deficit of 530 million dollars tallied in the prior year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp fall in the shipment of local exporters that led to a big patent deficit. Trade in the industrial property rights, including patent, recorded a deficit of 3.53 billion dollars in 2020, with trade in the patent and utility model rights posting a deficit of 2.38 billion dollars.
The trademark and franchise rights trade logged the biggest yearly deficit of 1.15 billion dollars last year, but trade in the research and development (R&D) and software copyrights registered a surplus of 1.73 billion dollars. Trade in the culture and arts copyrights recorded the first-ever surplus of 160 million dollars in 2020. By industry, manufacturers tallied a deficit of 570 million dollars in the intellectual property rights trade, while deficit among services companies amounted to 1.32 billion dollars last year.