- Increasing trend of patent applications related to BM using UCC -


The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced that patent applications related to Business Methods (BM) using User Created Contents (UCC) are rapidly increasing. This increase follows the spreading influence of UCC throughout Korean society.


The number of patent applications related to BM using UCC was 36 from 2000 to 2005. In 2006 alone, however, the number reached 54, showing that related applications are drastically increasing due to the popularity of UCC.


Looking at the technical contents of these applications, 40 were related to the trading methods of UCC, 29 to the production technologies of UCC, and 14 to the advertisement methods using UCC.


The 14 applications related to the advertisement methods using UCC were newly filed in 2006, showing that UCC and internet advertisement are combining to create and develop the next generation business model.

Small/medium enterprises and private inventors are filing more applications. 34 applications were filed by small/medium enterprises, 29 by private inventors, 13 by large enterprises, and 5 by foreigners.


KIPO forecasted that patent applications related to BM using new UCC will increase where methods of e-Commerce, such as finance, shopping, and education are combined as one.


▶ User-created content (UCC) refers to various kinds of media content that are produced or primarily influenced by end-users, as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters and production companies.It reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. These include digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis. In addition to these technologies, UCC may also employ a combination of open source, free software, and flexible licensing or related agreements to further diminish the barriers to collaboration, skill-building and discovery.