S.Korea leads world in patent applications for robot vacuum cleaners

South Korea leads the world in the number of patent applications for robot vacuum cleaners.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office on Sunday said that from 2011-20, the nation had the most among the 3,687 multiple intellectual property applications for such devices filed in five regions: South Korea, the US, China, the European Union and Japan. Of the number, South Korea led with 1,321 or 35.8%, followed by runner-up China with 1,317.

Most of the applicants were companies (92.1%) led by No. 1 LG Electronics with 980, followed by iRobot of the US in second with 198 and Samsung Electronics third with 193. Other notable domestic entities in the rankings included the major web portal Naver at 38th with 11, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute 43rd with 10 and Future Robot 53rd with eight.

Write to Hae-Sung Lee at ihs@hankyung.com