Technology Trends and Patenting Prospects of Medicinal Plants in Korea

Background: Medicinal plants are widely used in Asia. They have proven to be an invaluable asset in modern drug discovery and their demand has been steadily increasing across various industries. Methods and Results: Using 4,867 valid patents related to 12 oriental medicinal plants of 10 country groups, the growth and development potential of patents was evaluated. The cites per patent (CPP) and patent family size (PFS) indices were used to evaluate the market capability and technological level of the collected patents. Meanwhile, the patent impact index (PII) and technology strength (TS) were used to compare the technological competitiveness of patents among various technology types and markets. Both CPP and PFS indices showed that magnolia-vine and balloon flower have numerous core or original patents. Furthermore, an increase in both PII and TS indices was observed. A newly designed intellectual property multi-layer (IPM) model predicted that the medicine, genome and cosmetic categories have a high possibility of patent application growth. Conclusions: The IPM model can be used to provide the scope of particular technology fields for patent development. In addition, this study can assist patents to advance in the international market and guide the development of a national industrial strategy.