South Korea posts $4bln of intellectual property rights deficit in 2015

South Korea posted 4 billion U.S. dollars of intellectual property rights deficit in 2015, but the deficit reduced compared with the previous year due to faster rise in exports than imports, central bank data showed Thursday.

Trade deficit in intellectual property rights, including patents, industrial property rights, copy rights and design rights, reached 4.00 billion dollars in 2015, down from 4.53 billion dollars of deficit in 2014, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It maintained a chronic deficit trend, but the deficit continued to fall from 6.7 billion dollars in 2010 to 4.8 billion dollars in 2012 and 4.53 billion dollars in 2014.

The narrowed deficit was attributable to faster increase in exports than imports, which mean that domestic companies earned more than paid to use intellectual property rights.

Exports of intellectual property rights increased from 8.37 billion dollars in 2014 to 10.03 billion dollars in 2015, while imports grew from 12.9 billion dollars to 14.04 billion dollars in the same period.

By industry, manufacturers recorded a deficit of 3.65 billion dollars due to royalty payment in the electrical and electronic industry. Service firms deficit reduced from 630 million dollars in 2014 to 370 million dollars in 2015.

South Korea posted the largest deficit in intellectual property rights trade with the United States at 6.68 billion dollars in 2015, up 32.3 percent from the previous year.

In trade with China, the country logged a surplus of 1.96 billion dollars, while posting a 1.68 billion-dollar surplus in trade with Vietnam.