International · KR
Trademark refusal rate in South Korea: Madrid System filings
124,551 international registrations on record designate South Korea. Among the 28,579 designations registered 2019–2022 (the resolved cohort we measure outcomes on), 68.9% received a provisional refusal, 1,332 (4.7%) are still refused outright, 68 partially, and 23,347 (81.7%) hold a grant of protection. That refusal rate is above the 4.4% median across the 60 most-designated offices.
How U.S. companies fare in South Korea compared with 60+ other offices: where U.S. trademark owners get refused abroad.
50% of the registrations designating South Korea also designate the United States. Those appear in USPTO data as well, so a USPTO clearance check catches them; the rest are invisible to a U.S.-only search.
Most-designated Nice classes in South Korea
| Class | Goods / services | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| Class 9 | Computers & Electronics | 36,618 |
| Class 42 | Computer & Scientific | 21,015 |
| Class 35 | Advertising & Business | 19,227 |
| Class 25 | Clothing | 15,219 |
| Class 5 | Pharmaceuticals | 15,183 |
| Class 3 | Cosmetics & Cleaning | 13,993 |
| Class 41 | Education & Entertainment | 12,625 |
| Class 7 | Machinery | 12,039 |
| Class 1 | Chemicals | 9,332 |
| Class 18 | Leather Goods | 9,319 |
Who files into South Korea
Office of origin of the registrations designating South Korea, where the filers are based.
| Office of origin | Registrations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States (US) | 23,007 | 18.5% |
| European Union (EM) | 18,976 | 15.2% |
| China (CN) | 13,050 | 10.5% |
| Japan (JP) | 11,904 | 9.6% |
| Germany (DE) | 9,185 | 7.4% |
| France (FR) | 8,172 | 6.6% |
| Switzerland (CH) | 7,724 | 6.2% |
| Italy (IT) | 6,125 | 4.9% |
International registrations designating South Korea, by registration year
Registrations on record by the year they were registered internationally. Our copy covers registrations with activity since July 2025, so older years reflect renewals and decisions, not original volume.
| Year | Registrations | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6,440 | |
| 2018 | 6,508 | |
| 2019 | 6,901 | |
| 2020 | 6,666 | |
| 2021 | 6,998 | |
| 2022 | 8,014 | |
| 2023 | 10,257 | |
| 2024 | 12,686 | |
| 2025 | 12,461 | |
| 2026 | 6,395 |
Planning to designate South Korea? Run your mark through the free clearance risk check. It searches the international register in your classes and shows where similar marks were refused. If your mark has a logo, screen it with logo similarity search.